Augusta Chiropractic and Back Pain Relief Expectations via Surgical or Conservative Care
What expectations do you have of your Augusta chiropractic care of back pain? That question is huge. Research reports that that questions of expectations plays a role in back pain treatment outcome whether that treatment is surgical or conservative. Lombardy Chiropractic Clinic aims to listen to you and your expectations of our Augusta back pain treatment and share the outcomes of our treatment documented in practice and in research.
INFLUENTIAL EXPECTATIONS FOR BACK SURGERY OUTCOMES
A new research project examined 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 ranged from a little to a lot depending on the patient and his/her specific issues. Whose expectations were met? The surgeons’ expectations. Two years after the back surgery, the outcomes reported by patients met the surgeon’s expectations. The researchers stressed that effective communication about expectations may well further better outcomes. (1) That is why Lombardy Chiropractic Clinic spends time with each Augusta back pain patient at the beginning of care, making sure the source of pain and its treatment plan are well-explained. If not, ask us!
AN ACCEPTABLE SYMPTOM STATE
If a patient does not experience the relief he/she desired from 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) Lombardy Chiropractic Clinic knows no pain is the preferred state and is ready to discuss with our Augusta chiropractic patients their options and potential 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 regarded in treatment planning and choosing from available options? A recent paper indicated that the patient’s social, psychological, and other non-clinical characteristics must be considered in planning care. (3) One factor 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 goal of back pain treatment which is positive according to a new report on how back pain patient recovery expectations sway clinical outcomes. A review of 60 studies found that a patient’s recovery expectations are probably strongly associated with future work participation. (5) Lombardy Chiropractic Clinic employs effective, nonsurgical care of back pain to meet patient expectations once the research on outcomes for other back pain sufferers is described and understood. Augusta chiropractic care keeps the back pain patient at its center.
CONTACT Lombardy Chiropractic Clinic
Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. Anthony Galante on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he explained how Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management and chiropractic treatment assisted in the management of back pain for a patient who was adamant about not wanting back surgery.
Make your next Augusta chiropractic visit soon. Lombardy Chiropractic Clinic wants to know your answer to the question of your expectations for our treatment so that we can both be happy with the outcome!
