Manchester Chiropractic Care Instead of an Emergency Room Visit and Pain Meds for Back Pain

Emergency room physicians are working on figuring out what is best to offer back pain patients who visit the ER for help. It’s a quandry for them, particularly since almost 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 Manchester ER do? How can an ER doctor deliver higher value care? (2) Imaging and medication. What can the Manchester chiropractic back pain specialist offer? Spinal manipulation and nutrients. Chiropractic has published about successful management of back pain.

EMERGENCY ROOM: IMAGING

The ER orders a lot of imaging. One in 3 patients who go to the emergency room for back pain (as opposed to 1 in 4 who seek care from a primary care physician) has imaging ordered: simple imaging 26%, complex imaging 8.2%. (3) Today’s imaging recommendations 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 using such care already? Probably not since only 34% of patients who visit an ER share with 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 offer. Researchers have studied a variety of pain medication combinations ER doctors have prescribed to see what is effective. What have they discovered? Stronger pain medication options don’t offer much of a difference. Adding baclofen, metaxalone, or tizanidine to ibuprofen doesn’t appear to enhance function or pain any more than placebo plus ibuprofen within a 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 go to an ER for their back pain continued to experience functional impairment 3 months later as well as 42% said they had 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 issues for ER patients with low back pain. (1) This might be frustrating for ER physicians and their patients but not always for chiropractors and their chiropractic back pain patients. The Manchester chiropractic back pain specialist at Manchester Chiropractic & Sports Injuries is equipped with the best of chiropractic care for Manchester back pain relief.

CHIROPRACTIC: MANIPULATION AND NUTRIENTS

Your Manchester 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 Manchester chiropractor’s confidence that back pain relief and management for many otherwise frustrated Manchester 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 goal of the primary spine physician who would be the physician to turn to for back pain issues.

CONTACT Manchester Chiropractic & Sports Injuries

Schedule a Manchester chiropractic appointment with Manchester Chiropractic & Sports Injuries especially if an emergency department trip has not resulted in the pain relief you hoped. Manchester chiropractic care has figured out a well-documented and researched way to manage back pain.