What expectations do you have of your
Groton chiropractic care of back pain? That is a key question. Research
is reporting that that questions of expectations plays
a role in back pain treatment outcome whether that treatment is surgical or conservative. Shoreline Medical Services/ Hutter Chiropractic Office aims
to listen to you and your expectations of our Groton back
pain treatment and share what our treatment’s outcomes have been in practice and in
research.
INFLUENTIAL EXPECTATIONS FOR BACK SURGERY OUTCOMES
A new research project scrutinized
patient and surgeon expectations of back surgery. Patients expected full
relief and improvement of their back pain after lumbar spine surgery. Surgeons
expected improvement that varied from a little to a lot dependant on the patient and his/her specific condition. Whose
expectations were met? The surgeons’
expectations. A couple years after the back surgery, the patient-reported outcomes met the surgeon’s expectations.
The researchers emphasized that effective communication about expectations
may well foster better outcomes. (1) That’s
why Shoreline Medical Services/ Hutter Chiropractic Office devotes time to each Groton
back pain patient early on in care, ensuring
that the source of pain and its treatment plan are well-explained.
If not, tell us!
AN ACCEPTABLE SYMPTOM STATE
If initial
patient expectations are not met with back surgery,
what is an “acceptable symptom state” for that back pain patient? What can he/she live with? For patients with chronic non-specific low back pain (with or
without active discopathy), 54% reported having an acceptable symptom
state at 1 month of care. Specifically, patient-reported acceptable symptoms included: 47.5 for lumbar pain, 30.5 for radicular pain, 39.3 for
disability, 10.0 for anxiety, and 6.7 for depression. (2) Shoreline Medical Services/ Hutter Chiropractic Office knows no pain is the preferred state and is prepared to discuss
with our Groton chiropractic patients their options and possible
outcomes.
DECIDING ON TREATMENT OPTIONS
Deciding
whether to have back surgery is a big decision. Evidence-based medicine sees that the patient at the center of care. What is
the patient perspective of this care? How is the patient perspective taken
into consideration in treatment planning and choosing from available options? A new paper indicated that the patient’s social, psychological, and other non-clinical
characteristics must be considered in planning care. (3)
One issue in the back-surgery decision that reportedly influences
the decision and the outcome expectation is opioid use. Lower dose and shorter-time-taking
opioid use patients expected more complete improvement compared
with non-users. They also had higher
expectations of positive outcome than higher-dose opioid patients. (4) For a
lot of patients, the prospect of work is a light at the end of the
tunnel which is positive
according to a new report on how back pain patient recovery
expectations impact clinical outcomes. A review of
60 studies found that a patient’s recovery expectations are
probably strongly associated with future work participation. (5) Shoreline Medical Services/ Hutter Chiropractic Office applies
effective, nonsurgical care of back pain to meet patient expectations once the research on outcomes for other back pain
sufferers is presented and understood. Groton chiropractic care keeps the back pain patient at its center.
CONTACT Shoreline Medical Services/ Hutter Chiropractic Office
Check out this PODCAST
with Dr. Anthony Galante on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr.
Michael Johnson as he described how Cox®
Technic System of Spinal Pain Management and chiropractic treatment assisted
in the management of back pain for a patient who was absolutely
positive about not wanting back surgery.
Make your next Groton
chiropractic visit soon. Shoreline Medical Services/ Hutter Chiropractic Office invites you to ponder and answer the question of your
expectations for our treatment so that we can both be satisfied
with the outcome!