La Grande Chiropractic Healthy News - March 2018

Every profession is establishing recommendations for practitioners to follow when dispensing health care with hopes to stimulate conversations between patients and their healthcare providers and among healthcare providers themselves. Your La Grande chiropractor at Dr. Paulette Hugulet, DC, LLC is always ready for such a conversation about La Grande back pain. Back pain is a big health issue distressing 80% of us in La Grande at some point in life. Back pain is managed by many sorts of physicians in many kinds of specialist societies. Their societal recommendations are comparable concerning imaging (Do not order in the first 6 weeks of pain except if there are “red flags.”), attempting non-surgical care before imaging and/or referring for back surgery, and progressing the patient care from passive to active care. More precisely, the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation recommends not ordering repeat epidural steroid injections without evaluating the reaction to the last one and not prescribing opioid drugs for acute disabling low back pain without evaluation and a trial 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 red flags are noted, 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 sidestepping lumbar spine imaging in non-traumatic back pain except if there are severe or progressive neurological deficits or a suspicion of an underlying issue. (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 advocating bed rest for more than 48 hours for low back pain, not ordering EMG studies to establish the cause of spine pain, and not ordering advanced spinal imaging (ex MRI) within the first six weeks of non-specific acute low back pain without red flags. (6) The Danish Health Authority recommends not referring patients for back surgery for a lumbar disc herniation with radiculopathy except if the severe and debilitating back pain continues for 12 weeks in spite of non-surgical treatment. (7) It’s up to you, the La Grande 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 begin a conversation with your La Grande chiropractor, your La Grande back pain specialist, at Dr. Paulette Hugulet, DC, LLC as you choose the type of care proper for your La Grande back pain relief.

 

TIP OF THE MONTH: Try Non-Surgical Interventions for La Grande Back Pain

Common La Grande non-surgical interventions for La Grande 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 La Grande back surgery is spinal manipulation (10) of which 90% (11) is performed 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 reduces – 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 La Grande back pain to Dr. Paulette Hugulet, DC, LLC! Make it your first La Grande back pain relief healthcare stop!