Augusta Chiropractic Healthy News - March 2018

Every profession is setting forth recommendations for practitioners to follow when dispensing health care in hopes of opening conversations between patients and their healthcare providers and among healthcare providers themselves. Your Augusta chiropractor at Lombardy Chiropractic Clinic is always ready for such a conversation about Augusta back pain. Back pain is a huge health issue affecting 80% of us in Augusta at some point in life. Back pain is handled by many sorts of physicians in many kinds of professional societies. Their societal recommendations are comparable regarding imaging (Do not perform within the first 6 weeks of pain unless there are “red flags.”), trying non-surgical care before imaging and/or referring for back surgery, and moving the patient care from passive to active care. For example, the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation recommends not ordering repeat epidural steroid injections without evaluating the reaction to the latter one and not prescribing opioid drugs for acute disabling low back pain without evaluation and a trial of other alternatives. (2) The American Chiropractic Association recommends not ordering repeat imaging to monitor progress of care, not obtaining spinal imaging for acute low back pain in the first 6 weeks of pain unless there are red flags, and staying away from long term use of passive care but instead shift the patient to active care. (3) The American College of Emergency Room Physicians recommends avoiding lumbar spine imaging in non-traumatic back pain unless there are severe or progressive neurological deficits or a suspicion of an underlying condition. (4) The American College of Physicians recommends not obtaining imaging studies in patients with non-specific low back pain. (5) The North American Spine Society recommends not advocating bed rest for more than 48 hours for low back pain, not using EMG studies to determine the cause of spine pain, and not ordering advanced spinal imaging (ex MRI) in the first six weeks of non-specific acute low back pain with no red flags. (6) The Danish Health Authority recommends not sending patients for back surgery for a lumbar disc herniation with radiculopathy except if the severe and debilitating back pain persists for 12 weeks despite non-surgical treatment. (7) It’s up to you, the Augusta back pain patient or concerned loved one, to choose wisely the path of care for back pain relief. Use these professions’ recommendations for back pain care to begin a conversation with your Augusta chiropractor, your Augusta back pain specialist, at Lombardy Chiropractic Clinic as you choose the type of care proper for your Augusta back pain relief.

 

TIP OF THE MONTH: Try Non-Surgical Interventions for Augusta Back Pain

Common Augusta non-surgical interventions for Augusta back pain relief are pain medications, exercise, manual manipulation, massage, and heat/ice. (8, 9) Included in the top non-surgical interventions to try before Augusta back surgery is spinal manipulation (10) of which 90% (11) is delivered by chiropractors. The Cox Technic System of Spine Care – spinal manipulation with exercise, nutrition and passive care for pain and inflammation reduction with increased active care importance as pain reduces – matches Choosing Wisely recommendations as it seeks 50% relief of pain within 30 days of care (which is more than the 30% or greater improvement in self-reported pain and function pursued by medicine [12]) before advanced imaging or surgical referral without red flags. Bring your Augusta back pain to Lombardy Chiropractic Clinic! Make it your first Augusta back pain relief healthcare stop!