For many, ocean waves are calming. For Groton neck pain and back pain patients, experiencing the wave of relief from pain can be the same if they understand it. For those who do not realize that pain ebbs and flows while healing, the wave of healing can be upsetting. Shoreline Medical Services/ Hutter Chiropractic Office helps our patients appreciate the wave of healing, recognize the research supporting our relieving treatment plan, and celebrate the pain relief they get.
DESCRIBING AND RATING PAIN
Since back and neck pain experiences are complete with fluctuating symptoms as they get better, researchers have worked on a method to classify neck pain patients and their pain patterns by tracking 1208 neck pain patients. They produced 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 describing and rating pain, researchers had patients portray their pain using a visual picture scale about their pain intensity and symptomatology over a year. The patient responses were very similar in explaining the pain intensity but not so much for the symptoms and their characteristics. (2) Shoreline Medical Services/ Hutter Chiropractic Office notices that everybody experiences pain in somewhat different ways and that they find certain sorts of pain more annoying than others do. All of our Groton chiropractic patients are unique!
THE HEALING “WAVE”
For 12 months, another study tracked 1124 neck pain patients who saw a chiropractor. Neck pain patients experiencing “persistent pain” – 75% to 63% over the year - and very minor pain stayed relatively stable. Those who had “episodic pain” – 21% to 24% over the year – had greater changes in their pain patterns. (3) This is why we forewarn 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 sign of healing and pain relief. Shoreline Medical Services/ Hutter Chiropractic Office reminds our Groton neck pain and back pain patients to not be discouraged along the way. We will get there together!
CHIROPRACTIC IN MANAGING BACK AND NECK PAIN PATTERNS
Research such as described here about the patterns of neck pain and back pain sufferers shows the on-going need for them to have team members like their chiropractors along with general practitioners to manage it, understand it, and care for it. One researcher explained 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 pain relief. (4) Again, pain relief is rarely 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 Shoreline Medical Services/ Hutter Chiropractic Office
Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. John Murray on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he presents patient cases that were complicated and yet found relief with The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management over time.
Schedule your Groton chiropractic appointment today. Together, we’ll aim for the calming wave of healing and celebrate the pain relief.
