Guidelines and recommendations for so many
things from how to correctly replace a light bulb
to when to do back surgery fill
our world. Guidelines are appreciated by people confronting
a new challenge or a new health condition for the first
time. Guidelines for the care of back pain have been issued
through the years, many listing non-surgical
care including spinal manipulation as first line treatment. Just how well are
those guidelines followed by relevant healthcare providers,
by back pain sufferers? Vancouver Disc Centers found these newly
published reports interesting and thought
our Vancouver chiropractic patients would, also. We can all
use them to create and follow a guideline-based
treatment plan.
BACK PAIN TREATMENT GUIDELINES
Your Vancouver chiropractor keeps
abreast of the current guidelines to best help you, our Vancouver
back pain patient. Back in 2009, the American College of Physicians listed spinal
manipulation in its guidelines’
recommendations of appropriate spinal pain care options.
(1) Vancouver Disc Centers uses the well-documented Cox® Technic
System of Spinal Pain Management which has a published algorithm of
decision-making for patients who have pain below the knee
and patients with pain that doesn’t
go below the knee with a goal of 50% improvement in 30 days or
so of care. These guidelines were released in 1996
and have been tested in clinic-based data collections through
the years. (2) Such guidelines with research backing and
proper clinical application help
our Vancouver 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. Vancouver Disc Centers is one of those
chiropractors. Beyond chiropractic, general guidelines for back
pain care are also accessible. Are they followed? A newly
completed 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 rose after
clinical guidelines recommending their care were introduced in
2016. Between 2002 and 2018, a little less than a third of said
adults with low back pain said that they were going
through chiropractic and/or PT/OT with a rise to a third after the 2016 clinical guidelines were published.
(3) This does demonstrate that guidelines help
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 being referred. The patients were on
average 53 years old with nearly 50% of them saying
that they experienced 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 shared
their thoughts 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. Very interesting! Independently,
chiropractors reported themselves as competent
and well-educated spine and musculoskeletal care experts who delivered
evidence-based care based on the current research,
clinical expertise, and patient values. They provided
patient-centered care that extends to cooperating with other
healthcare providers with the best interest of the patient in mind. (5) Using guidelines, chiropractors are
sure that they can assist their back pain patients with
their best interests in mind.
CONTACT Vancouver Disc Centers
Listen to this PODCAST
with Dr. Ted Siciliano on The Back Doctors Podcast with
Dr. Michael Johnson as he illustrates how he used The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management to help
a patient dealing with back pain and foot drop.
Make your Vancouver chiropractic
appointment now. Facing a serious bout of back
pain is certainly not comparable 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!