San Jose Chiropractic Healthy News - March 2018

Healthcare professions are setting forth recommendations for practitioners to abide by when dispensing health care in hopes of opening conversations between patients and their healthcare providers and among healthcare providers themselves. Your San Jose chiropractor at McMurray Chiropractic Solutions is always ready for such a conversation about San Jose back pain. Back pain is a big health concern affecting 80% of us in San Jose at some point in life. Back pain is handled by many kinds of physicians in many types of professional societies. Their societal recommendations are related concerning imaging (Do not do in the first six weeks of pain except if there are “red flags.”), testing 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 response to the last one and not prescribing opioid drugs for acute disabling low back pain without assessment and a test of other alternatives. (2) The American Chiropractic Association recommends not doing repeat imaging to see how the patient is responding, not obtaining 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 use of passive care but instead shift the patient to active care. (3) The American College of Emergency Room Physicians recommends sidestepping 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 suggesting bed rest for more than 48 hours for low back pain, not using EMG studies to determine the cause of spine pain, and not getting advanced spinal imaging (ex MRI) in the first 6 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 continues for 12 weeks regardless of non-surgical treatment. (7) It is up to you, the San Jose 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 San Jose chiropractor, your San Jose back pain specialist, at McMurray Chiropractic Solutions as you choose the type of care appropriate for your San Jose back pain relief.

 

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

Common San Jose non-surgical interventions for San Jose 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 San Jose 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 importance as pain decreases – 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 sought by medicine [12]) before advanced imaging or surgical referral in absence of red flags. Bring your San Jose back pain to your San Jose chiropractor’s office! Make it your first San Jose back pain relief healthcare stop!