Auburn Chiropractic Healthy News - March 2018

Healthcare professions are establishing recommendations for practitioners to abide by when dispensing health care in hopes of opening conversations between patients and their healthcare providers and among healthcare providers themselves. Your Auburn chiropractor at Dr. Le's Chiropractic & Wellness, L.L.C. is always ready for such a conversation about Auburn back pain. Back pain is a huge health issue affecting 80% of us in Auburn at some point in life. Back pain is dealt with by many kinds of physicians in many kinds of professional societies. Their societal recommendations are similar concerning imaging (Do not do within the first 6 weeks of pain except if there are “red flags.”), attempting non-surgical care ahead of imaging and/or referring for back surgery, and progressing the patient care from passive care to active care. More specifically, the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation recommends not ordering repeat epidural steroid injections without checking for the response to the last one and not prescribing opioid drugs for acute disabling low back pain without evaluation and a test of other alternatives. (2) The American Chiropractic Association recommends not doing repeat imaging to see how the patient is responding, not obtaining spinal imaging for acute low back pain in the first 6 weeks of pain unless red flags are present, and staying away from long term usage of passive care but instead move the patient to active care. (3) The American College of Emergency Room Physicians recommends sidestepping lumbar spine imaging in non-traumatic back pain unless there are severe or progressive neurological deficits or a suspicion of an underlying condition. (4) The American College of Physicians recommends not ordering imaging studies in patients with non-specific low back pain. (5) The North American Spine Society recommends not advocating bed rest for more than 48 hours for low back pain, not ordering EMG studies to establish the cause of spine pain, and not ordering advanced spinal imaging (ex MRI) within the first 6 weeks of non-specific acute low back pain without red flags. (6) The Danish Health Authority recommends not sending patients for back surgery for a lumbar disc herniation with radiculopathy except if the severe and debilitating back pain persists for 12 weeks notwithstanding non-surgical treatment. (7) It is up to you, the Auburn back pain patient or concerned loved one, to choose wisely the course of care for back pain relief. Consider these professions’ recommendations for back pain care to start a conversation with your Auburn chiropractor, your Auburn back pain specialist, at Dr. Le's Chiropractic & Wellness, L.L.C. as you decide on the type of care suitable for your Auburn back pain relief.

 

TIP OF THE MONTH: Try Non-Surgical Interventions for Auburn Back Pain

Common Auburn non-surgical interventions for Auburn back pain relief are pain medications, exercise, manual manipulation, massage, and heat/ice. (8, 9) Included in the top non-surgical interventions to try before Auburn back surgery is spinal manipulation (10) of which 90% (11) is delivered by chiropractors. The Cox Technic System of Spine Care – spinal manipulation with exercise, nutrition and passive care for pain and inflammation reduction with more active care importance as pain decreases – fits Choosing Wisely recommendations as it seeks 50% relief of pain within 30 days of care (which is more than the 30% or greater improvement in self-reported pain and function sought by medicine [12]) before advanced imaging or surgical referral without red flags. Bring your Auburn back pain to your Auburn chiropractor’s office! Make it your first Auburn back pain relief healthcare stop!