Guidelines and recommendations for everything from how to properly change a light bulb
to appropriately decide on whether to do back surgery fill
our daily lives. Guidelines are valued by people confronting
a new task or a new pain for the first
time. Guidelines for the care of back pain have been available
through the years, many listing non-surgical
care including spinal manipulation as first line treatment. Just how well are
those guidelines followed by involved healthcare providers,
by back pain sufferers? Shoreline Medical Services/ Hutter Chiropractic Office found these recent reports interesting and thought
our Groton chiropractic patients would, also. We can all
use them to create and follow a guideline-based
treatment plan.
BACK PAIN TREATMENT GUIDELINES
Your Groton chiropractor is aware of the current guidelines to best assist you, our Groton
back pain patient. Back in 2009, the American College of Physicians listed spinal
manipulation in its guidelines’
recommendations of suitable spinal pain care choices.
(1) Shoreline Medical Services/ Hutter Chiropractic Office utilizes 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 who experience pain that doesn’t
go below the knee with a goal of 50% improvement in a month of care. These guidelines were released in 1996
and have been tested in clinic-based data collections in the years since. (2) Such guidelines with research support and
proper clinical application help
our Groton 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
available to them. Shoreline Medical Services/ Hutter Chiropractic Office is one of those
chiropractors. Beyond chiropractic, broad 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 those
adults with low back pain reported getting chiropractic and/or PT/OT with a rise to a third after the 2016 clinical guidelines were published.
(3) This does demonstrate that guidelines assist
with treatment planning but are not always followed. In Denmark
where guidelines for low back pain care are documented
for primary care before referral found that 33% of
patients had not undergone an adequate course of treatment
in primary care before referral. The patients were on
average 53 years old with almost 50% of them reporting
that they had pain for over a
year, and 75% saying that they had
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 compiled
their ideas 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. Quite interesting! Independently,
chiropractors described themselves as capable
and well-educated spine and musculoskeletal care experts who offered
evidence-based care based on the current research,
clinical expertise, and patient values. They delivered
patient-centered care that spreads to cooperating with other
healthcare providers in the
best interests of the patient. (5) Using guidelines, chiropractors are
confident that they can assist their back pain patients with
those patient’s best interests in mind.
CONTACT Shoreline Medical Services/ Hutter Chiropractic Office
Listen to this PODCAST
with Dr. Ted Siciliano on The Back Doctors Podcast with
Dr. Michael Johnson as he illustrates his use
of The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management to relieve
a patient dealing with back pain and foot drop.
Schedule your Groton chiropractic
appointment soon. Facing a serious episode of back
pain is certainly not equivalent to changing a light bulb for
the first time, but it’s comforting to know that there are published
guidelines to properly manage
each task!