Baton Rouge Chiropractic Healthy News - March 2018

Healthcare professions are establishing recommendations for practitioners to follow when providing health care in hopes of opening conversations between patients and their healthcare providers and among healthcare providers themselves. Your Baton Rouge chiropractor at Medical Spine and Sports Injury and Rehab Centers is always ready for such a conversation about Baton Rouge back pain. Back pain is a huge health concern affecting 80% of us in Baton Rouge at some point in life. Back pain is dealt with by many types of physicians in many types of professional societies. Their societal recommendations are related regarding imaging (Do not perform within the first 6 weeks of pain except if there are “red flags.”), testing 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 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 ordering repeat imaging to monitor progress of care, not obtaining spinal imaging for acute low back pain in the first 6 weeks of pain unless there are red flags, and avoiding long term use of passive care but instead move the patient to active care. (3) The American College of Emergency Room Physicians recommends sidestepping lumbar spine imaging in non-traumatic back pain except if there are severe or progressive neurological deficits or a suspicion of an underlying condition. (4) The American College of Physicians recommends not ordering 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 figure out the cause of spine pain, and not doing advanced spinal imaging (ex MRI) in the first 6 weeks of non-specific acute low back pain with no red flags. (6) The Danish Health Authority recommends not sending patients for back surgery for a lumbar disc herniation with radiculopathy unless the severe and debilitating back pain continues for 12 weeks notwithstanding non-surgical treatment. (7) It’s up to you, the Baton Rouge 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 start a conversation with your Baton Rouge chiropractor, your Baton Rouge back pain specialist, at Medical Spine and Sports Injury and Rehab Centers as you decide on the type of care suitable for your Baton Rouge back pain relief.

 

TIP OF THE MONTH: Try Non-Surgical Interventions for Baton Rouge Back Pain

Common Baton Rouge non-surgical interventions for Baton Rouge 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 Baton Rouge back surgery is spinal manipulation (10) of which 90% (11) is done by chiropractors. The Cox Technic System of Spine Care – spinal manipulation with exercise, nutrition and passive care for pain and inflammation reduction with increased active care importance as pain decreases – fits 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 without red flags. Bring your Baton Rouge back pain to your Baton Rouge chiropractor’s office! Make it your first Baton Rouge back pain relief healthcare stop!