Guidelines and recommendations for so many
things from how to correctly change a light bulb
to appropriately decide on whether to do back surgery fill
our daily lives. Guidelines are valued by people facing
a new challenge or a new health condition for the first
time. Guidelines for the care of back pain have been published
for years, many recommending non-surgical
care including spinal manipulation as first line treatment. Just how well are
those guidelines followed by relevant healthcare practitioners,
by back pain sufferers? Minster Chiropractic Center found these newly
published reports interesting and thought
our Minster chiropractic patients would, too. We can all
use them to create and follow a guideline-based
treatment plan.
BACK PAIN TREATMENT GUIDELINES
Your Minster chiropractor keeps
abreast of the current guidelines to best help you, our Minster
back pain patient. Back in 2009, the American College of Physicians listed spinal
manipulation in its guidelines’
recommendations of suitable spinal pain care options.
(1) Minster Chiropractic Center utilizes the well-documented Cox® Technic
System of Spinal Pain Management which has a published algorithm of
decision-making for patients who have pain below the knee
and patients who have pain that doesn’t
go below the knee with a goal of 50% improvement in a month of care. These guidelines were released in 1996
and have been tested in clinic-based data collections in the years since. (2) Such guidelines with research backing and
proper clinical application build confidence that there is hope to
our Minster chiropractic patients!
ARE GUIDELINES BEING FOLLOWED?
We hope so! Nearly 64% of chiropractors say they use (Cox®)
flexion distraction with their spine pain patients and have the algorithm/guideline
available to them. Minster Chiropractic Center is one of those
chiropractors. Beyond chiropractic, general guidelines for back
pain care are available. Are they followed? A newly
completed review of chiropractic and OT/PT use among 146,087 adults
with low back pain in the past 3 months found that
chiropractic care or OT/PT care for low back pain rose after
clinical guidelines recommending their care were announced in
2016. Between 2002 and 2018, a little less than a third of those
adults with low back pain said that they were going
through chiropractic and/or PT/OT with an increase
to a third after the 2016 clinical guidelines were published.
(3) This does show that guidelines help
with treatment planning but are not always followed. In Denmark
where guidelines for low back pain care are outlined
for primary care before referral found that 33% of
patients had not undergone an adequate course of treatment
in primary care before being referred. The patients were on
average 53 years old with almost 50% of them saying
that they’d had pain for over a
year, and 75% saying that they had
pain below the knee. (4) Struggles in the healthcare system to abide
by guidelines are seemingly global.
CHIROPRACTIC’S ROLE
A group of chiropractic leaders assembled
their ideas on the role of the chiropractor in his/her own
practice, with his/her own patients, within the healthcare community, and
within society for healthcare. Very interesting! Individually,
chiropractors described themselves as capable
and well-educated spine and musculoskeletal care experts who delivered
evidence-based care founded on the latest research,
clinical expertise, and patient values. They delivered
patient-centered care that extends to cooperating with other
healthcare providers with the best interest of the patient in mind. (5) Using guidelines, chiropractors are
sure that they can help their back pain patients with
those patient’s best interests in mind.
CONTACT Minster Chiropractic Center
Listen to this PODCAST
with Dr. Ted Siciliano on The Back Doctors Podcast with
Dr. Michael Johnson as he describes how he used The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management to relieve
a patient dealing with back pain and foot drop.
Schedule your Minster chiropractic
appointment now. Facing a serious episode of back
pain is certainly not comparable to changing a light bulb for
the first time, but it is comforting to know that there are published
guidelines to navigate the way through the task!