August 2023 Healthy News from Dr. Paulette Hugulet, DC, LLC Less Gabapentin Prescription and Pain with Chiropractic Care Back Pain & Hip Flexibility Link
Back pain is challenging. Its sufferers want relief. Would it not be great if a pill would do it?! Many back pain sufferers enter the back pain relief medical system and are given prescriptions for meds first. They take them in hopes that they’ll get relief. (Because this is so common, we chiropractors recognize that we need to be well-trained in identifying patients who may have a substance use issue and understand how to help if the use is a problem. (1)) Recent research states that the first-choice healthcare provider makes a difference in patients’ utilization of healthcare services. An assessment of 29,806 patient cases that looked at the year following the first visit for back pain found that utilization of healthcare services was less for those who chose chiropractic first. The highest health care utilization was noted for those who visited the emergency room as their first step into healthcare for back pain relief. (2) Another study documented that for patients under age 50 who are suffering low back pain, two common options of care and of care providers are spinal manipulation from a chiropractor and pharmacological prescription of gabapentin from a medical provider. Prescriptions for gabapentin were significantly lower for those who used chiropractic spinal manipulative care than those who used usual medical care. (3) Your chiropractor appreciates the value of interdisciplinary care and communicates with healthcare colleagues for the benefit of our back pain patients whenever possible and the value of provider choice with regards to relief and care. Your La Grande chiropractor at Dr. Paulette Hugulet, DC, LLC is confident to help our La Grande back pain patients with our effective chiropractic services!
Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. Kurt Olding on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson about the many choices back pain patients in “The Spine Care ‘Supermarket’” and how choosing The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management helps manage the pain.
When the hips are tight, the back gets tense, and movement is altered. Remember: Everything is linked! Researchers who evaluated hip rotation range of motion in participants who reported back pain and those who didn’t found that those with low back pain had remarkably restricted hip lateral rotation range of motion. (4) Luckily, there are methods to improve hip flexibility. One new way is auricular acupressure. What is that? Ask at your next appointment, but it improved hip flexibility (and back pain!) in a new study. (5) Another study hyped the benefit of core stability exercise and hip muscle stretching as effective at improving physical function and activity in non-specific low back pain patients. (6) Let’s check your hip flexibility out at your next La Grande chiropractic appointment and plan a way to boost it!
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