Guidelines and recommendations for so many
things from how to correctly replace a light bulb
to appropriately decide on whether to do back surgery pervade
our world. Guidelines are appreciated by people confronting
a new task or a new pain for the first
time. Guidelines for the care of back pain have been circulated
for years, many citing non-surgical
care including spinal manipulation as first line treatment. Just how well are
those guidelines followed by relevant healthcare practitioners,
by back pain patients? Chiropractic Solutions found these recent reports attention-getting and thought
our San Jose chiropractic patients would, also. We can all
use them to create and follow a guideline-based
treatment plan.
BACK PAIN TREATMENT GUIDELINES
Your San Jose chiropractor is aware of the current guidelines to best assist you, our San Jose
back pain patient. Back in 2009, the American College of Physicians listed spinal
manipulation in its guidelines’
recommendations of appropriate spinal pain care choices.
(1) Chiropractic Solutions utilizes the well-documented Cox® Technic
System of Spinal Pain Management which has a published algorithm of
decision-making for patients who have pain below the knee
and patients with pain that doesn’t
go below the knee with a goal of 50% improvement in 30 days or
so of care. These guidelines were released in 1996
and have been tested in clinic-based data collections in the years since. (2) Such guidelines with research support and
proper clinical application soothe
our San Jose chiropractic patients!
ARE GUIDELINES BEING FOLLOWED?
We hope so! Nearly 64% of chiropractors say they use (Cox®)
flexion distraction with their spine pain patients and have the algorithm/guideline
available to them. Chiropractic Solutions is one of those
chiropractors. Beyond chiropractic, broad guidelines for back
pain care are available. Are they followed? A newly
completed review of chiropractic and OT/PT use among 146,087 adults
with low back pain in the past 3 months found that
chiropractic care or OT/PT care for low back pain increased after
clinical guidelines recommending their care were announced in
2016. Between 2002 and 2018, a bit less than a third of said
adults with low back pain reported going
through chiropractic and/or PT/OT with a rise to a third after the 2016 clinical guidelines were released.
(3) This does demonstrate that guidelines assist
with treatment direction but are not always followed. In Denmark
where guidelines for low back pain care are documented
for primary care before being referred found that 33% of
patients had not undergone an adequate course of treatment
in primary care before referral. The patients were on
average 53 years old with nearly 50% of them saying
that they’d had pain for over a
year, and 75% saying that they had
pain below the knee. (4) Struggles in the healthcare system to abide
by guidelines are seemingly global.
CHIROPRACTIC’S ROLE
A group of chiropractic leaders compiled
their thoughts on the role of the chiropractor in his/her own
practice, with his/her own patients, within the healthcare community, and
within society for healthcare. Very interesting! Individually,
chiropractors reported themselves as capable
and well-educated spine and musculoskeletal care experts who offered
evidence-based care based on the latest research,
clinical expertise, and patient values. They provided
patient-centered care that extends to cooperating with other
healthcare providers in the
best interests of the patient. (5) Using guidelines, chiropractors are
sure that they can assist their back pain patients with
those patient’s best interests in mind.
CONTACT Chiropractic Solutions
Listen to this PODCAST
with Dr. Ted Siciliano on The Back Doctors Podcast with
Dr. Michael Johnson as he describes his use
of The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management to relieve
a patient dealing with back pain and foot drop.
Make your San Jose chiropractic
appointment now. Facing a serious bout of back
pain is certainly not equivalent to changing a light bulb for
the first time, but it’s comforting to know that there are available to best manage
each task!