Emergency room physicians are working on figuring out what is best to offer back pain
patients who come to the ER for help. It is a dilemma
for them, especially since nearly 3 million such
patients with undifferentiated musculoskeletal low back pain choose the emergency room for help annually! (1) Unless there is
cauda equina syndrome demanding surgery or an infection, pain is the issue. What
can a San Jose ER do?
How can an ER doctor deliver higher value care? (2) Imaging and
medication. What can the San Jose chiropractic back pain specialist provide?
Spinal manipulation and nutrients. Chiropractic has published about successfully managing back pain.
EMERGENCY ROOM: IMAGING
The ER does plenty of
imaging. One in 3 patients who go to the emergency room
for back pain (as opposed to 1 in 4 who seek care
from a primary care physician) has imaging ordered:
simple imaging 26%, complex imaging 8.2%. (3) Today’s imaging guidelines
don’t support this as they say to hold off
on imaging for 4-6 weeks of conservative care before imaging. (4) Maybe patients
are letting the ER doctors know that they have been under
such care already? Not likely since only 34% of
patients who go to an ER tell the emergency department
physician that they get healthcare options like chiropractors,
massage therapy, acupuncture and the like. (5) What about the pain?
EMERGENCY ROOM: MEDICATIONS
Pain relief, it
seems, is what they can offer. Researchers have looked at
a variety of pain medication combinations ER doctors have used
to figure out what works best. What have
they found? Stronger pain medication options do not
offer much of a difference. Adding baclofen, metaxalone, or tizanidine to
ibuprofen doesn’t seem to enhance
function or pain any more than placebo plus ibuprofen by 1 week
after an ED visit for acute low back pain. (6,7) Mixing
ibuprofen and acetaminophen didn’t reduce pain
scores or the need for other analgesic pain meds compared with either ibuprofen
or acetaminophen alone in emergency room patients with acute
musculoskeletal injuries. (8) As a matter of fact, 48% of back pain patients
who visit an ER for their back pain still
had functional impairment 3 months later as well as
42% said they had moderate or severe pain. 46% say
they’ve used some type of analgesic pain reliever in the last
day. There are short and long-term problems for ER patients
with low back pain. (1) This may all be frustrating for emergency
department docs and their patients but not typically
for chiropractors and their chiropractic back pain patients. The
San Jose chiropractic back pain specialist at Chiropractic Solutions is
equipped with the best of chiropractic care for
San Jose back pain relief.
CHIROPRACTIC: MANIPULATION AND NUTRIENTS
Your San Jose chiropractor gets it.
Skill with chiropractic spinal manipulation via
The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management with the addition of
nutrition like chondroitin sulfate, glucosamine sulfate and curcurmin and
turmeric supports your San Jose chiropractor’s confidence that back
pain relief and management for many otherwise frustrated San Jose
back pain patients is possible.
Listen to this PODCAST
with Dr. Michael Schneider on The
Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson who describes
the role of the primary spine physician who would be the physician
to seek out for back pain issues.
CONTACT Chiropractic Solutions
Schedule a San Jose chiropractic visit
with Chiropractic Solutions especially if an ER visit
hasn’t produced the pain relief you wanted.
San Jose chiropractic care has shared a well-documented
and researched way to manage back pain.
"This information and website content is not intended to diagnose, guarantee results, or recommend specific treatment or activity. It is designed to educate and inform only. Please consult your physician for a thorough examination leading to a diagnosis and well-planned treatment strategy. See more details on the
DISCLAIMER page. Content is reviewed by
Dr. James M. Cox I."