For many, ocean waves are calming. For West Des Moines back pain and neck pain patients, experiencing the wave of relief from pain can be the same if they understand it. For those who do not get that pain waxes and wanes while healing, the wave of healing can be frustrating. Executive Chiropractic of Iowa helps our patients appreciate the wave of healing, are aware of the research supporting our relieving treatment plan, and celebrate the pain relief they experience.
DESCRIBING AND RATING PAIN
Since back and neck pain experiences are filled with fluctuating symptoms as they heal, researchers tried to come up with a way to classify neck pain patients and their pain patterns by tracking 1208 neck pain patients. They came up with 16 subgroups! Wow. The largest subgroup was “mild persistent fluctuating” with 25% of the patients in it reporting pain as a 3.4 out of 10 (10 worst pain). The “moderate episodic” group had 24% with a pain rating of 2.7. “Persistent fluctuating” pain patients were those bothered more by pain than the others. (1) Instead of just labeling and rating pain, researchers had patients describe their pain using a visual picture scale about their pain intensity and symptomatology over 12 months. The patient responses were very similar in defining the pain intensity but not so much for the symptoms and their characteristics. (2) Executive Chiropractic of Iowa finds that everybody feels pain in slightly different ways and that they find certain types of pain more annoying than others do. All of our West Des Moines chiropractic patients are unique!
THE HEALING “WAVE”
For a year, another study tracked 1124 neck pain patients who saw a chiropractor. Neck pain patients experiencing “persistent pain” – 75% to 63% over 12 months - and very minor pain stayed relatively stable. Those who had “episodic pain” – 21% to 24% over the year – had greater changes in their pain patterns. (3) This is why we inform our back and neck pain patients that recovery is more wavelike than a straight line. While healing, pain comes and goes. Going away more than it comes is a positive signal of healing and pain relief. Executive Chiropractic of Iowa reminds our West Des Moines neck pain and back pain patients to not be discouraged along the way. We will get there together!
CHIROPRACTIC IN MANAGING BACK AND NECK PAIN PATTERNS
Research such as described here regarding the patterns of neck pain and back pain sufferers emphasizes the on-going need for them to have team members like their chiropractors as well as general practitioners to handle it, understand it, and care for it. A researcher described how a patient who underwent spinal surgery 30 years ago now had neck pain and cervical arm pain due to adjacent segment disease – a condition often seen in spinal discs above and below a spinal level that underwent back surgery - was treated with cervical manipulation, flexion distraction decompression (Cox®), soft-tissue mobilization, and therapeutic ultrasound for resolution of pain. (4) Again, pain relief is rarely sudden, but rather systematic with treatment, coming/going pain intensity, patience, and appreciation for the relief gotten be it 50%, 70% or 90% as explained by the 50% Rule of Cox® Technic.
CONTACT Executive Chiropractic of Iowa
Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. John Murray on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he shares patient cases that were complicated and yet found relief with The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management with time.
Make your West Des Moines chiropractic appointment today. Together, we will aim for the calming wave of healing and celebrate the pain relief.
