Montreal Chiropractic Care Instead of an Emergency Room Visit and Pain Meds for Back Pain
Emergency room physicians are trying to figure out what is best to offer back pain patients who come to the ER for help. It’s a dilemma for them, especially since almost 3 million such patients with undifferentiated musculoskeletal low back pain visit the emergency room for help annually! (1) Unless there is cauda equina syndrome demanding surgery or an infection, pain is the issue. What can a Montreal ER do? How can an ER doctor provide higher value care? (2) Imaging and medication. What can the Montreal chiropractic back pain specialist provide? Spinal manipulation and nutrients. Chiropractic has published about successfully managing back pain.
EMERGENCY ROOM: IMAGING
The ER performs lots of imaging. One in 3 patients who go to the emergency department for back pain (as opposed to 1 in 4 who go to a primary care physician) gets imaging ordered: simple imaging 26%, complex imaging 8.2%. (3) Today’s imaging recommendations don’t support this as they say to hold off on imaging for 4-6 weeks of conservative care before imaging. (4) Maybe patients are letting the ER doctors know that they have been under such care already? Not likely as only 34% of patients who go to an ER share with the emergency department physician that they use healthcare options like chiropractors, massage therapy, acupuncture and the like. (5) What about the pain?
EMERGENCY ROOM: MEDICATIONS
Relief for the pain is what they focus on. Researchers have studied all sorts of pain medication combinations ER doctors have prescribed to see what is effective. What have they found? Stronger pain medication options do not offer much of a difference. Adding baclofen, metaxalone, or tizanidine to ibuprofen does not seem to up function or pain any more than placebo plus ibuprofen within a week after an ED visit for acute low back pain. (6,7) Mixing ibuprofen and acetaminophen did not reduce pain scores or the need for other analgesic pain meds compared with either ibuprofen or acetaminophen alone in emergency room patients with acute musculoskeletal injuries. (8) As a matter of fact, 48% of back pain patients who visit an ER for their back pain continued to experience functional impairment 3 months later as well as 42% reported moderate or severe pain. 46% report using some type of analgesic pain reliever in the last day. There are short and long-term problems for ER patients with low back pain. (1) This may all be frustrating for emergency department physicians and their patients but not always for chiropractors and their chiropractic back pain patients. The Montreal chiropractic back pain specialist at Dr. Hoang's Chiropractic Clinic is prepared with the best of chiropractic care for Montreal back pain relief.
CHIROPRACTIC: MANIPULATION AND NUTRIENTS
Your Montreal chiropractor understands. Familiarity with chiropractic spinal manipulation via The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management with the addition of nutrition like chondroitin sulfate, glucosamine sulfate and curcurmin and turmeric boosts your Montreal chiropractor’s confidence that back pain relief and management for many otherwise frustrated Montreal back pain patients is promising.
Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. Michael Schneider on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson who describes the role of the primary spine physician who would be the physician to turn to for back pain issues.
CONTACT Dr. Hoang's Chiropractic Clinic
Schedule a Montreal chiropractic appointment with Dr. Hoang's Chiropractic Clinic especially if an ER trip has not resulted in the pain relief you wanted. Montreal chiropractic care has figured out a well-documented and researched way to manage back pain.
