For many, ocean waves are calming. For Largo back pain and
neck pain patients, feeling the wave of healing pain relief can be the same if they are aware of it. For those who don’t understand that pain waxes
and wanes while healing, the wave of
healing can be upsetting. Hollstrom & Associates Inc helps our
patients appreciate the wave of healing, know the research supporting our relieving treatment plan, and celebrate
the pain relief they experience.
DESCRIBING AND RATING PAIN
Since back and neck pain experiences are complete
with fluctuating symptoms as they get better,
researchers have worked on a way
to classify neck pain patients and their pain patterns by studying
1208 neck pain patients. They came up with 16 subgroups! Wow.
The biggest subgroup was “mild persistent fluctuating” with 25%
of the patients in it reporting pain as a 3.4 out of 10 (0 no pain). The “moderate episodic” group had 24% reporting
pain at a 2.7. “Persistent fluctuating” pain patients
were those bothered more by pain than the others. (1) Instead
of just labeling and rating pain, researchers had
patients describe their pain using a visual picture scale about
their pain intensity and symptomatology over a year. The
patient responses were quite similar in defining
the pain intensity but not as much for the symptoms and their
characteristics. (2) Hollstrom & Associates Inc notices that everybody
experiences pain in slightly different ways
and that they find certain types of pain more annoying than others
do. All of our Largo chiropractic patients are unique!
THE HEALING “WAVE”
For a year, another study followed
1124 neck pain patients who saw a chiropractor. Neck pain patients
experiencing “persistent pain” – 75% to 63% over 12 months - and very minor pain remained relatively stable. Those
who had “episodic pain” – 21% to 24% over the year – changed
more in their pain patterns. (3) This is why we tell
our back and neck pain patients that recovery is more like a wave
than a straight line. While healing, pain comes and goes.
Going away more than it comes is a positive signal of
healing and pain relief. Hollstrom & Associates Inc repeatedly tells our Largo
neck pain and back pain patients to not be discouraged along the way. We’ll get there together!
CHIROPRACTIC IN MANAGING BACK AND NECK PAIN PATTERNS
Research such as described here regarding
the patterns of neck pain and back pain sufferers shows
the on-going need for them to have team members like their
chiropractors as well as general practitioners to manage
it, understand it, and care for it. One researcher described
how a patient who underwent spinal surgery 30 years ago now experienced
neck pain and cervical arm pain due to adjacent segment disease – a condition
often seen in spinal discs above and below a spinal level that
underwent back surgery - was treated with cervical manipulation, flexion
distraction decompression (Cox®), soft-tissue mobilization, and therapeutic ultrasound
for resolution of pain. (4) Again, pain relief is seldom
sudden, but rather slow and steady with treatment,
coming/going pain intensity, patience, and appreciation for the relief gotten
be it 50%, 70% or 90% as explained by the 50% Rule of Cox®
Technic.
CONTACT Hollstrom & Associates Inc
Listen to this PODCAST
with Dr. John Murray on The
Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he presents patient
cases that were difficultcomplex and yet attained
relief with The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management over
time.
Make your Largo chiropractic
appointment today. Together, we’ll work toward
the calming wave of healing and celebrate the pain relief.
