Largo Chiropractic Healthy News - March 2018

Healthcare professions are establishing recommendations for practitioners to adhere to when dispensing health care with hopes to stimulate conversations between patients and their healthcare providers and among healthcare providers themselves. Your Largo chiropractor at Hollstrom & Associates Inc is always ready for such a conversation about Largo back pain. Back pain is a big health concern upsetting 80% of us in Largo at some point in life. Back pain is dealt with by many types of physicians in many types of professional societies. Their societal recommendations are comparable regarding imaging (Don’t order in the first six weeks of pain except if there are “red flags.”), testing non-surgical care ahead of imaging and/or referring for back surgery, and moving the patient care from passive care to active care. For example, the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation recommends not ordering repeat epidural steroid injections without evaluating the reaction to the last one and not prescribing opioid drugs for acute disabling low back pain without evaluation and a trial of other alternatives. (2) The American Chiropractic Association recommends not ordering repeat imaging to see how the patient is responding, not getting spinal imaging for acute low back pain in the first 6 weeks of pain unless red flags are present, and staying away from long term usage of passive care but instead shift 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 condition. (4) The American College of Physicians recommends not obtaining 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 getting advanced spinal imaging (ex MRI) in 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 despite non-surgical treatment. (7) It is up to you, the Largo back pain patient or concerned loved one, to choose wisely the path of care for back pain relief. Consider these professions’ recommendations for back pain care to start a conversation with your Largo chiropractor, your Largo back pain specialist, at Hollstrom & Associates Inc as you choose the type of care appropriate for your Largo back pain relief.

 

TIP OF THE MONTH: Try Non-Surgical Interventions for Largo Back Pain

Common Largo non-surgical interventions for Largo 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 Largo back surgery is spinal manipulation (10) of which 90% (11) is done by chiropractors. The Cox Technic System of Spine Care – spinal manipulation with exercise, nutrition and passive care for pain and inflammation reduction with increased active care importance as pain reduces – matches Choosing Wisely recommendations as it seeks 50% relief of pain within 30 days of care (which is more than the 30% or greater improvement in self-reported pain and function pursued by medicine [12]) before advanced imaging or surgical referral without red flags. Bring your Largo back pain to your Largo chiropractor’s office! Make it your first Largo back pain relief healthcare stop!