For many, seeing and hearing ocean waves
is calming. For West Palm Beach neck pain and back pain patients, feeling the wave of healing pain relief can be the same if they understand it. For those who don’t understand that pain waxes
and wanes while healing, the wave of
healing can be saddening. Chiropractic Care helps our
patients understand the wave of healing, are
aware of the research behind our relieving treatment plan, and celebrate
the pain relief they get.
DESCRIBING AND RATING PAIN
Since back and neck pain experiences are complete
with fluctuations of symptoms as they heal,
researchers tried to come up with a system
to classify neck pain patients and their pain patterns by studying
1208 neck pain patients. They came up with 16 subgroups! Wow.
The largest subgroup was “mild persistent fluctuating” with 25%
of the patients in it reporting pain as a 3.4 out of 10 (10
worst pain). The “moderate episodic” group had 24% with a pain rating of 2.7. “Persistent fluctuating” pain patients
were those bothered more by pain than the others. (1) Instead
of just describing and rating pain, researchers had
patients portray their pain using a visual picture scale about
their pain intensity and symptomatology over a year. The
patient responses were quite similar in explaining
the pain intensity but not so much for the symptoms and their
characteristics. (2) Chiropractic Care observes that everybody
feels pain in slightly different ways
and that they find certain sorts of pain more annoying than others
do. All of our West Palm Beach chiropractic patients are unique!
THE HEALING “WAVE”
For 12 months, another study tracked
1124 neck pain patients who saw a chiropractor. Neck pain patients
having “persistent pain” – 75% to 63% over the
year - and very minor pain stayed relatively stable. Those
who had “episodic pain” – 21% to 24% over the year – shifted
more in their pain patterns. (3) This is the reason we tell
our back and neck pain patients that recovery is more like a wave
than a straight line. While healing, pain ebbs and flows.
Going away more than it comes is a solid sign of
healing and pain relief. Chiropractic Care repeatedly tells our West Palm Beach
neck pain and back pain patients to not be discouraged along the way. We
will get there together!
CHIROPRACTIC IN MANAGING BACK AND NECK PAIN PATTERNS
Research such as described here regarding
the patterns of neck pain and back pain sufferers emphasizes
the on-going need for them to have partners like their
chiropractors as well as general practitioners to manage
it, understand it, and care for it. A researcher explained
how a patient who underwent spinal surgery 30 years ago now had
neck pain and cervical arm pain due to adjacent segment disease – a condition
often seen in spinal discs above and below a spinal level that
underwent back surgery - was treated with cervical manipulation, flexion
distraction decompression (Cox®), soft-tissue mobilization, and therapeutic ultrasound
for pain relief. (4) Again, pain relief is seldom
sudden, but rather systematic with treatment,
coming/going pain intensity, patience, and appreciation for the relief gotten
be it 50%, 70% or 90% as explained by the 50% Rule of Cox®
Technic.
CONTACT Chiropractic Care
Listen to this PODCAST
with Dr. John Murray on The
Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he shares patient
cases that were complicated and yet found
relief with The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management over
time.
Make your West Palm Beach chiropractic
appointment soon. Together, we’ll aim for
the calming wave of healing and celebrate the pain relief.
