Guidelines and recommendations for everything from how to correctly replace a light bulb
to when to do back surgery pervade
our world. Guidelines are valued by people confronting
a new challenge or a new health condition for the first
time. Guidelines for the care of back pain have been circulated
through the years, many listing non-surgical
care including spinal manipulation as first line treatment. Just how well are
those guidelines followed by relevant healthcare providers,
by back pain patients? Aaron Chiropractic Clinic found these recent reports interesting and thought
our Fort Wayne chiropractic patients would, also. We can all
use them to design and go along with a guideline-based
treatment plan.
BACK PAIN TREATMENT GUIDELINES
Your Fort Wayne chiropractor is aware of the current guidelines to best help you, our Fort Wayne
back pain patient. Back in 2009, the American College of Physicians listed spinal
manipulation in its guidelines’
recommendations of appropriate spinal pain care options.
(1) Aaron Chiropractic Clinic uses the well-documented Cox® Technic
System of Spinal Pain Management which has a published algorithm of
decision-making for patients with pain below the knee
and patients with pain that doesn’t
extend below the knee with a goal of 50% improvement in 30 days or
so of care. These guidelines came out in 1996
and have been tested in clinic-based data collections through
the years. (2) Such guidelines with research backing and
proper clinical application soothe
our Fort Wayne 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
accessible to them. Aaron Chiropractic Clinic is one of those
chiropractors. Beyond chiropractic, general guidelines for back
pain care are also accessible. Are they followed? A recent 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 introduced in
2016. Between 2002 and 2018, a bit less than a third of said
adults with low back pain said that they were going
through chiropractic and/or PT/OT with a rise to a third after the 2016 clinical guidelines were released.
(3) This does show that guidelines help
with treatment planning but are not always followed. In Denmark
where guidelines for low back pain care are outlined
for primary care before referral found that 33% of
patients had not gone through an adequate course of treatment
in primary care before being referred. The patients were on
average 53 years old with almost 50% of them saying
that they’d had pain for more than a
year, and 75% reporting
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 assembled
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! Independently,
chiropractors described themselves as competent
and well-educated spine and musculoskeletal care experts who provided
evidence-based care based on the current 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 help their back pain patients with
their best interests in mind.
CONTACT Aaron Chiropractic Clinic
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 help
a patient dealing with back pain and foot drop.
Make your Fort Wayne chiropractic
appointment now. Facing a serious episode of back
pain is certainly not comparable to changing a light bulb for
the first time, but it is comforting to know that there are published
guidelines to navigate the way through the task!