Emergency room physicians are trying
to figure out what is optimal to do for back pain
patients who choose the ER for help. It is 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 Carrolltown ER doc help?
How can an ER doctor provide higher value care? (2) Imaging and
medication. What can the Carrolltown chiropractic back pain specialist offer?
Spinal manipulation and nutrients. Chiropractic has published about successfully managing back pain.
EMERGENCY ROOM: IMAGING
The ER does plenty of
imaging. One in 3 patients who visit the emergency room
for back pain (compared to 1 in 4 who go to 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? Not likely as only 34% of
patients who visit an ER share with 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 do. Researchers have looked at
a variety of pain medication combinations ER doctors have used
to determine 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) Combining
ibuprofen and acetaminophen didn’t 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% said they had moderate or severe pain. 46% report using 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 docs and their patients but not always
for chiropractors and their chiropractic back pain patients. The
Carrolltown chiropractic back pain specialist at Gormish Chiropractic & Rehabilitation is
armed with the best of chiropractic care for
Carrolltown back pain relief.
CHIROPRACTIC: MANIPULATION AND NUTRIENTS
Your Carrolltown chiropractor understands.
Skill 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 Carrolltown chiropractor’s confidence that back
pain relief and management for many otherwise frustrated Carrolltown
back pain patients is promising.
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 seek out for back pain issues.
CONTACT Gormish Chiropractic & Rehabilitation
Schedule a Carrolltown chiropractic appointment
with Gormish Chiropractic & Rehabilitation especially if an ER trip
has not produced the pain relief you wanted.
Carrolltown 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."