Auburn Chiropractic and Back Pain Relief Expectations via Surgical or Conservative Care
What expectations do you have of your Auburn chiropractic care of back pain? That question is huge. Research reports that it plays a role in back pain treatment outcome whether that treatment is surgical or conservative. Dr. Le's Chiropractic & Wellness, L.L.C. aims to hear your expectations of our Auburn back pain treatment and share what our treatment’s outcomes have been in practice and in research.
INFLUENTIAL EXPECTATIONS FOR BACK SURGERY OUTCOMES
A new research project examined patient and surgeon expectations of back surgery. Patients expected complete relief and improvement of their back pain after lumbar spine surgery. Surgeons expected improvement that ranged from a little to a lot depending on the patient and his/her specific issues. Whose expectations were met? The surgeons’ expectations. A couple years after the back surgery, the patient-reported outcomes met the surgeon’s expectations. The researchers emphasized that effective communication about expectations may well advance better outcomes. (1) That’s why Dr. Le's Chiropractic & Wellness, L.L.C. devotes time to each Auburn back pain patient at the beginning of care, making sure the source of pain and its treatment plan are well-explained. If not, ask us!
AN ACCEPTABLE SYMPTOM STATE
If original patient expectations are not met with back surgery, what is an “acceptable symptom state” for that back pain patient? What can he/she live with? For patients with chronic non-specific low back pain (with or without active discopathy), 54% reported having an acceptable symptom state at 1 month of care. Specifically, patient-reported acceptable symptoms involved these: 47.5 for lumbar pain, 30.5 for radicular pain, 39.3 for disability, 10.0 for anxiety, and 6.7 for depression. (2) Dr. Le's Chiropractic & Wellness, L.L.C. appreciates that no pain is the preferred state and is ready to discuss with our Auburn chiropractic patients their options and potential outcomes.
DECIDING ON TREATMENT OPTIONS
Deciding whether to have back surgery is a big decision. Evidence-based medicine sees that the patient at the center of care. What is the patient perspective of this care? How is the patient perspective regarded in treatment planning and choosing from available options? A new paper indicated that the patient’s social, psychological, and other non-clinical characteristics must be taken into account in planning care. (3) One issue in the back-surgery decision that reportedly influences the decision and the outcome expectation is opioid use. Lower dose and shorter-time-taking opioid use patients expected more complete improvement opposed to non-users. They also had higher expectations of positive outcome than higher-dose opioid patients. (4) For a lot of patients, the prospect of work is a light at the end of the tunnel which is affirming according to a new report on how back pain patient recovery expectations impact clinical outcomes. A review of 60 studies found that a patient’s recovery expectations are probably strongly associated with future work participation. (5) Dr. Le's Chiropractic & Wellness, L.L.C. uses effective, nonsurgical care of back pain to meet patient expectations once the research on outcomes for other back pain sufferers is presented and understood. Auburn chiropractic care keeps the back pain patient at its center.
CONTACT Dr. Le's Chiropractic & Wellness, L.L.C.
Check out this PODCAST with Dr. Anthony Galante on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he explained how Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management and chiropractic treatment assisted in the management of back pain for a patient who was adamant about not wanting back surgery.
Schedule your next Auburn chiropractic visit today. Dr. Le's Chiropractic & Wellness, L.L.C. invites you to think about and answer the question of your expectations for our treatment so that we can both be happy with the outcome!
