West Des Moines Chiropractic Healthy News - March 2018

 

Every profession is establishing recommendations for practitioners to adhere to when delivering health care with hopes to stimulate conversations between patients and their healthcare providers and among healthcare providers themselves. Your West Des Moines chiropractor at Executive Chiropractic of Iowa is always ready for such a conversation about West Des Moines back pain. Back pain is a huge health concern upsetting 80% of us in West Des Moines at some point in life. Back pain is handled by many sorts of physicians in many types of professional societies. Their societal recommendations are related concerning imaging (Don’t do in the first six weeks of pain except if there are “red flags.”), attempting non-surgical care ahead of imaging and/or referring for back surgery, and progressing 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 assessment and a trial of other alternatives. (2) The American Chiropractic Association recommends not performing repeat imaging to monitor progress of care, not getting spinal imaging for acute low back pain in the first 6 weeks of pain unless red flags are present, and staying away from long term usage of passive care but instead move 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 issue. (4) The American College of Physicians recommends not getting 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 ordering EMG studies to determine the cause of spine pain, and not getting advanced spinal imaging (ex MRI) within the first six weeks of non-specific acute low back pain devoid of 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 West Des Moines back pain patient or concerned loved one, to choose wisely the path of care for back pain relief. Consider these professions’ recommendations for back pain care to start a conversation with your West Des Moines chiropractor, your West Des Moines back pain specialist, at Executive Chiropractic of Iowa as you decide on the type of care proper for your West Des Moines back pain relief.

TIP OF THE MONTH: Try Non-Surgical Interventions for West Des Moines Back Pain

Common West Des Moines non-surgical interventions for West Des Moines 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 West Des Moines 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 more active care emphasis as pain decreases – fits Choosing Wisely recommendations as it works toward 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 in absence of red flags. Bring your West Des Moines back pain to Executive Chiropractic of Iowa! Make it your first West Des Moines back pain relief healthcare stop!