For many, seeing and hearing ocean waves
is calming. For West Des Moines back pain and
neck pain patients, feeling the wave of healing pain relief can be the same if they understand it. For those who do not get that pain ebbs and flows while healing, the wave of
healing can be frustrating. Executive Chiropractic of Iowa helps our
patients understand the wave of healing, know the research supporting our relieving treatment plan, and celebrate
the pain relief they get.
DESCRIBING AND RATING PAIN
Since back and neck pain experiences are filled
with fluctuations of symptoms as they get better,
researchers have worked on a way
to classify neck pain patients and their pain patterns by tracking
1208 neck pain patients. They produced 16 subgroups! Wow.
The biggest subgroup was “mild persistent fluctuating” with 25%
of the patients in it rating their 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 explaining
the pain intensity but not as much for the symptoms and their
characteristics. (2) Executive Chiropractic of Iowa observes that everybody
experiences pain in slightly different ways
and that they find certain sorts of pain more annoying than others
do. All of our West Des Moines chiropractic patients are distinctive!
THE HEALING “WAVE”
For a year, another study tracked
1124 neck pain patients who saw a chiropractor. Neck pain patients
having “persistent pain” – 75% to 63% over 12 months - and very minor pain remained relatively stable. Those
who had “episodic pain” – 21% to 24% over the year – changed
more in their pain patterns. (3) This is why we forewarn
our back and neck pain patients that recovery is more like a wave
than a straight line. While healing, pain ebbs and flows.
Going away more than it comes is a solid sign of
healing and pain relief. Executive Chiropractic of Iowa repeatedly tells 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 explained here about
the patterns of neck pain and back pain sufferers reflects
the on-going need for them to have partners 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 around the 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 seldom
sudden, but rather slow and steady 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 attained
relief with The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management with
time.
Schedule your West Des Moines chiropractic
appointment soon. Together, we will aim for
the calming wave of healing and celebrate the pain relief.
