CHOOSING WISELY (1) – WHAT TO DO ABOUT BACK PAIN Healthcare professions are establishing recommendations for practitioners to abide by when dispensing health care with hopes to stimulate conversations between patients and their healthcare providers and among healthcare providers themselves. Your Southern New Hampshire chiropractor at New Hampshire Spine and Sport is always ready for such a conversation about Southern New Hampshire back pain. Back pain is a huge health issue distressing 80% of us in Southern New Hampshire 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 regarding imaging (Do not perform in the first six weeks of pain unless there are “red flags.”), trying non-surgical care before 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 reaction 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 there are red flags, and staying away from long term use 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 issue. (4) The American College of Physicians recommends not getting imaging studies in patients with non-specific low back pain. (5) The North American Spine Society recommends not suggesting 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 devoid of red flags. (6) The Danish Health Authority recommends not referring patients for back surgery for a lumbar disc herniation with radiculopathy except if the severe and debilitating back pain continues for 12 weeks regardless of non-surgical treatment. (7) It is up to you, the Southern New Hampshire 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 Southern New Hampshire chiropractor, your Southern New Hampshire back pain specialist, at New Hampshire Spine and Sport as you decide on the type of care proper for your Southern New Hampshire back pain relief.
Listen to this PODCAST from the Back Doctors' Podcast series about two cases of back pain helped with Cox Technic, one with imaging and all sorts of care and the second case without any imaging studies.
TIP OF THE MONTH: Try Non-Surgical Interventions for Southern New Hampshire Back Pain
Common Southern New Hampshire non-surgical interventions for Southern New Hampshire 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 Southern New Hampshire back surgery is spinal manipulation (10) of which 90% (11) is performed 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 – matches Choosing Wisely recommendations as it works toward 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 Southern New Hampshire back pain to New Hampshire Spine and Sport! Make it your first Southern New Hampshire back pain relief healthcare stop!