Emergency room physicians are working on figuring out what is best to do for back pain
patients who choose the ER for help. It is a dilemma
for them, especially since nearly 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. What
can a West Palm Beach ER do?
How can an ER doctor deliver higher value care? (2) Imaging and
medication. What can the West Palm Beach 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 room
for back pain (as opposed to 1 in 4 who visit a primary care physician) gets imaging ordered:
simple imaging 26%, complex imaging 8.2%. (3) Today’s imaging guidelines
do not support this as they recommend holding 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? Probably not as 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
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 works best. What have
they discovered? Stronger pain medication options do not
offer much of a difference. Adding baclofen, metaxalone, or tizanidine to
ibuprofen does not appear to enhance
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 decrease pain
scores or the need for other analgesic pain meds compared with either ibuprofen
or acetaminophen alone for 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% report using some type of analgesic pain reliever in the last
day. There are short and long-term issues for ER patients
with low back pain. (1) This may all be frustrating for emergency
department docs and their patients but not always
for chiropractors and their chiropractic back pain patients. The
West Palm Beach chiropractic back pain specialist at Chiropractic Care is
equipped with the best of chiropractic care for
West Palm Beach back pain relief.
CHIROPRACTIC: MANIPULATION AND NUTRIENTS
Your West Palm Beach chiropractor gets it.
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 supports your West Palm Beach chiropractor’s confidence that back
pain relief and management for many otherwise frustrated West Palm Beach
back pain patients is possible.
Listen to this PODCAST
with Dr. Michael Schneider on The
Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson who shares
the role of the primary spine physician who would be the physician
to seek out for back pain issues.
CONTACT Chiropractic Care
Schedule a West Palm Beach chiropractic visit
with Chiropractic Care especially if an emergency department visit
has not produced the pain relief you hoped.
West Palm Beach chiropractic care has figured out 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."