Emergency room physicians are trying
to figure out what is best to do for back pain
patients who choose the ER for help. It’s a quandry
for them, especially since almost 3 million such
patients with undifferentiated musculoskeletal low back pain choose the emergency room for help each year! (1) Unless there is
cauda equina syndrome demanding surgery or an infection, pain is the issue. How best can a Williamson ER doc help?
How can an ER doctor provide higher value care? (2) Imaging and
medication. What can the Williamson chiropractic back pain specialist offer?
Spinal manipulation and nutrients. Chiropractic has published about successfully managing back pain.
EMERGENCY ROOM: IMAGING
The ER performs a lot of
imaging. One in 3 patients who go to the emergency department
for back pain (as opposed to 1 in 4 who seek care
from a primary care physician) gets imaging ordered:
simple imaging 26%, complex imaging 8.2%. (3) Today’s imaging guidelines
don’t support this as they recommend holding off
on imaging for 4-6 weeks of conservative care before imaging. (4) Maybe patients
are telling ER doctors that they have been under
such care already? Probably not since only 34% of
patients who go to an ER tell the emergency department
physician that they get healthcare options like chiropractors,
massage therapy, acupuncture and the like. (5) What about the pain?
EMERGENCY ROOM: MEDICATIONS
Pain relief, it
seems, is what they can offer. Researchers have looked at
a variety of pain medication combinations ER doctors have used
to figure out what is effective. What have
they found? Stronger pain medication options don’t
offer much of a difference. Adding baclofen, metaxalone, or tizanidine to
ibuprofen does not appear to up
function or pain any more than placebo plus ibuprofen by 1 week
after an ED visit for acute low back pain. (6,7) Mixing
ibuprofen and acetaminophen didn’t 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% say
they’ve used 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 ER physicians and their patients but not always
for chiropractors and their chiropractic back pain patients. The
Williamson chiropractic back pain specialist at Apple Country Chiropractic is
equipped with the best of chiropractic care for
Williamson back pain relief.
CHIROPRACTIC: MANIPULATION AND NUTRIENTS
Your Williamson chiropractor understands.
Experience 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 Williamson chiropractor’s confidence that back
pain relief and management for many otherwise frustrated Williamson
back pain patients is possible.
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 Apple Country Chiropractic
Schedule a Williamson chiropractic appointment
with Apple Country Chiropractic especially if an emergency department trip
has not resulted in the pain relief you hoped.
Williamson chiropractic care has shared a well-documented
and researched way to manage back pain.
"This information and website content is not intended to diagnose, guarantee results, or recommend specific treatment or activity. It is designed to educate and inform only. Please consult your physician for a thorough examination leading to a diagnosis and well-planned treatment strategy. See more details on the
DISCLAIMER page. Content is reviewed by
Dr. James M. Cox I."