Emergency room physicians are working on figuring out what is optimal to offer back pain
patients who come to the ER for help. It is a quandry
for them, especially since nearly 3 million such
patients with undifferentiated musculoskeletal low back pain go
to 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 Largo ER do?
How can an ER doctor deliver higher value care? (2) Imaging and
medication. What can the Largo chiropractic back pain specialist provide?
Spinal manipulation and nutrients. Chiropractic has published about successful
management of back pain.
EMERGENCY ROOM: IMAGING
The ER does a lot of
imaging. One in 3 patients who visit the emergency department
for back pain (as opposed to 1 in 4 who seek care
from a primary care physician) gets imaging performed:
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 using
such care already? Probably not as only 34% of
patients who visit an ER tell 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
Pain relief, it
seems, is what they can do. Researchers have looked at
a variety of pain medication combinations ER doctors have used
to see 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 doesn’t seem 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) Combining
ibuprofen and acetaminophen did not decrease 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 emergency room for their back pain still
had 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 emergency
department physicians and their patients but not typically
for chiropractors and their chiropractic back pain patients. The
Largo chiropractic back pain specialist at Hollstrom & Associates Inc is
prepared with the best of chiropractic care for
Largo back pain relief.
CHIROPRACTIC: MANIPULATION AND NUTRIENTS
Your Largo 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 Largo chiropractor’s confidence that back
pain relief and management for many otherwise frustrated Largo
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 Hollstrom & Associates Inc
Schedule a Largo chiropractic visit
with Hollstrom & Associates Inc especially if an ER trip
hasn’t produced the pain relief you wanted.
Largo 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."