Montreal Chiropractic Healthy News - March 2018

Healthcare professions are setting forth recommendations for practitioners to adhere to when dispensing health care in hopes of opening conversations between patients and their healthcare providers and among healthcare providers themselves. Your Montreal chiropractor at Dr. Hoang's Chiropractic Clinic is always ready for such a conversation about Montreal back pain. Back pain is a big health concern distressing 80% of us in Montreal at some point in life. Back pain is managed by many kinds of physicians in many types of professional societies. Their societal recommendations are related concerning imaging (Do not perform in the first 6 weeks of pain except if there are “red flags.”), testing non-surgical care before imaging and/or referring for back surgery, and shifting the patient care from passive to active care. More specifically, the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation recommends not ordering repeat epidural steroid injections without evaluating the response to the latter one and not prescribing opioid drugs for acute disabling low back pain without assessment 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 there are red flags, and avoiding long term usage of passive care but instead shift the patient to active care. (3) The American College of Emergency Room Physicians recommends avoiding lumbar spine imaging in non-traumatic back pain unless there are severe or progressive neurological deficits or a suspicion of an underlying issue. (4) The American College of Physicians recommends not getting imaging studies in patients with non-specific low back pain. (5) The North American Spine Society recommends not suggesting bed rest for more than 48 hours for low back pain, not ordering EMG studies to figure out the cause of spine pain, and not getting advanced spinal imaging (ex MRI) within the first 6 weeks of non-specific acute low back pain without red flags. (6) The Danish Health Authority recommends not sending 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 Montreal back pain patient or concerned loved one, to choose wisely the course of care for back pain relief. Use these professions’ recommendations for back pain care to begin a conversation with your Montreal chiropractor, your Montreal back pain specialist, at Dr. Hoang's Chiropractic Clinic as you decide on the type of care appropriate for your Montreal back pain relief.

 

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

Common Montreal non-surgical interventions for Montreal 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 Montreal back surgery is spinal manipulation (10) of which 90% (11) is done 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 decreases – 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 sought by medicine [12]) before advanced imaging or surgical referral in absence of red flags. Bring your Montreal back pain to your Montreal chiropractor’s office! Make it your first Montreal back pain relief healthcare stop!