Guidelines and recommendations for everything from how to properly change a light bulb
to when to do back surgery pervade
our world. Guidelines are appreciated by people confronting
a new task or a new pain for the first
time. Guidelines for the care of back pain have been published
for years, many citing non-surgical
care including spinal manipulation as first line treatment. Just how well are
those guidelines followed by involved healthcare providers,
by back pain patients? Dr. Hoang's Chiropractic Clinic found these newly
published reports interesting and thought
our Montreal chiropractic patients would, too. We can all
use them to create and follow a guideline-based
treatment plan.
BACK PAIN TREATMENT GUIDELINES
Your Montreal chiropractor is aware of the current guidelines to best help you, our Montreal
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) Dr. Hoang's Chiropractic Clinic 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 with pain that does not
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 support and
proper clinical application build confidence that there is hope to
our Montreal 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
accessible to them. Dr. Hoang's Chiropractic Clinic is one of those
chiropractors. Beyond chiropractic, general guidelines for back
pain care are also accessible. Are they followed? A recent review of chiropractic and OT/PT use among 146,087 adults
with low back pain in the past 3 months documented 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 said
adults with low back pain reported getting chiropractic and/or PT/OT with an increase
to a third after the 2016 clinical guidelines were published.
(3) This does show that guidelines assist
with treatment direction but are not always followed. In Denmark
where guidelines for low back pain care are documented
for primary care before referral found that 33% of
patients had not undergone an adequate course of treatment
in primary care before referral. The patients were on
average 53 years old with almost 50% of them saying
that they had pain for over a
year, and 75% reporting
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 reported themselves as competent
and well-educated spine and musculoskeletal care experts who provided
evidence-based care based on the latest research,
clinical expertise, and patient values. They provided
patient-centered care that spreads to cooperating with other
healthcare providers with the best interest of the patient in mind. (5) Using guidelines, chiropractors are
confident that they can help their back pain patients with
those patient’s best interests in mind.
CONTACT Dr. Hoang's Chiropractic Clinic
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 help
a patient dealing with back pain and foot drop.
Make your Montreal chiropractic
appointment today. 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 available to navigate the way through the task!