Emergency room physicians are working on figuring out what is optimal to do for back pain
patients who choose the ER for help. It is a quandry
for them, particularly since nearly 3 million such
patients with undifferentiated musculoskeletal low back pain visit the emergency room for help each year! (1) Unless there is
cauda equina syndrome demanding surgery or an infection, pain is the issue. What
can a Groton ER do?
How can an ER doctor deliver higher value care? (2) Imaging and
medication. What can the Groton chiropractic back pain specialist offer?
Spinal manipulation and nutrients. Chiropractic has published about successful
management of back pain.
EMERGENCY ROOM: IMAGING
The ER performs lots of
imaging. One in 3 patients who visit the emergency room
for back pain (as opposed to 1 in 4 who visit a primary care physician) has imaging ordered:
simple imaging 26%, complex imaging 8.2%. (3) Today’s imaging guidelines
do not support this as they say to hold off
on imaging for 4-6 weeks of conservative care before imaging. (4) Maybe patients
are letting the ER doctors know that they have been using
such care already? Not likely since only 34% of
patients who visit an ER tell the emergency department
physician that they get healthcare options like chiropractors,
massage therapy, acupuncture and the like. (5) What about the pain?
EMERGENCY ROOM: MEDICATIONS
Relief for the pain is what they focus on. Researchers have studied
a variety of pain medication combinations ER doctors have used
to figure out what works best. What have
they found? Stronger pain medication options don’t
offer much of a difference. Adding baclofen, metaxalone, or tizanidine to
ibuprofen doesn’t appear to up
function or pain any more than placebo plus ibuprofen by 1 week
after an ED visit for acute low back pain. (6,7) Mixing
ibuprofen and acetaminophen did not decrease pain
scores or the need for other analgesic pain meds compared with either ibuprofen
or acetaminophen alone in emergency room patients with acute
musculoskeletal injuries. (8) As a matter of fact, 48% of back pain patients
who visit an emergency room for their back pain still
had functional impairment 3 months later as well as
42% said they had moderate or severe pain. 46% say
they’ve used some type of analgesic pain reliever in the day prior. There are short and long-term issues for ER patients
with low back pain. (1) This may all be frustrating for ER docs and their patients but not typically
for chiropractors and their chiropractic back pain patients. The
Groton chiropractic back pain specialist at Shoreline Medical Services/ Hutter Chiropractic Office is
equipped with the best of chiropractic care for
Groton back pain relief.
CHIROPRACTIC: MANIPULATION AND NUTRIENTS
Your Groton chiropractor understands.
Skill with chiropractic spinal manipulation via
The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management with the addition of
nutrition like chondroitin sulfate, glucosamine sulfate and curcurmin and
turmeric boosts your Groton chiropractor’s confidence that back
pain relief and management for many otherwise frustrated Groton
back pain patients is promising.
Listen to this PODCAST
with Dr. Michael Schneider on The
Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson who describes
the role of the primary spine physician who would be the physician
to seek out for back pain issues.
CONTACT Shoreline Medical Services/ Hutter Chiropractic Office
Schedule a Groton chiropractic appointment
with Shoreline Medical Services/ Hutter Chiropractic Office especially if an emergency department visit
has not resulted in the pain relief you hoped.
Groton chiropractic care has shared a well-documented
and researched way to manage back pain.