Have you heard it said that numbers don’t lie? There are lots of numbers available
in the world of back pain and neck pain statistics regarding costs and
outcomes. Johnson Chiropractic shares a few of the latest ones that are quite interesting and reassuring
of our Richmond chiropractic approach integrating
the Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management.
OPTIONS USED FOR BACK PAIN VS BACK PAIN GUIDELINE
RECOMMENDATIONS
Treatment guidelines for back pain are well-published. Are they followed? Of 100 million patient
healthcare insurance claims, 56,000 had persistent low back
pain. These patients were not surgical candidates and had gone
through conventional medical care. Of those 56,000,
60% utilized physical therapy, 50% experienced
chiropractic, 26% received steroid injections and 66% used
prescribed pain meds (57% opioids, 38% muscle relaxants). Were guidelines followed? Not exactly. Contrary to low
back pain treatment guidelines, most patients were given
opioids while several non-drug treatments were used by only a
few. (1) Another report detailed that 775,893 general practitioner
visits resulted in 6,904 referrals (just 0.89%) to physiotherapy, a
non-drug treatment choice for frequently
referred problems like low back pain and osteoarthritis. (2) The healthcare
costs of these patients were very large. (1) Richmond
back pain treatment costs don’t vary that much.
COSTS OF BACK PAIN CARE
A review of Humana healthcare claims resulted in these findings: the pre-surgical costs
of conservative treatment options for cervical spine
radiculopathy were only 37.7% of the total non-operative
costs for this condition. Injection costs were the highest,
coming in at $988 on average per patient. Other costs
were – in order of cost expenditure - physical therapy ($510), medications (narcotics,
gabapentin, NSAIDs), bracing ($193), and chiropractic services
($193). 62% of overall costs for care of cervical radiculopathy were for diagnostic tests and such. (3) Richmond neck and back pain patients
have an experienced chiropractic option in their chiropractor
at Johnson Chiropractic.
INTERPROFESSIONAL REFERRAL FOR BACK PAIN CARE
New data showed a 106% increase
in the number of physician visits for low back pain and extremity pain that resulted in referral to another physician partly
because of ineffective outpatient conservative treatment.
The study that talked about this finding ended
with the suggestion that patients who are most likely to need surgery would meet with a surgeon
as their first subspecialty referral visit. Further,
patients who are less likely to require surgery would meet with
a non-operative spine specialist or primary care physician. (4)
Your Richmond chiropractor at Johnson Chiropractic is well-prepared
to be the Richmond non-surgical spine specialist this article describes
for our Richmond low back pain and neck pain and arm pain and leg pain
sufferers!
CLINICAL OUTCOMES OF TREATMENT
Of 609 patients with sciatica and back-related leg pain
visiting primary care physicians, only 55% gave an account of ‘improvement’
– just 30% or more reduction in disability - at one year follow-up. (5)
Chiropractors using the Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management seek at least 50% decrease of pain non-surgically
in a month. In a 1000 cases study of Cox® Technic treatment
outcomes, leg pain radicular patients improved significantly more
with Cox® Technic flexion distraction therapy than with physical therapy. (6)
In a study of post-surgical continued back pain patients, 81% of them scored
greater than 50% relief of pain in 11 visits in 49 days (mean). At two your
follow-up, 78.6% of them still had greater than 50% relief of pain.
Mean relief of pain was maintained: 71.6% at the end of active
care and 70% at 2-year follow-up. (7) Your Richmond chiropractor delivers
just such relief and knows when to refer if necessary.
CONTACT Johnson Chiropractic
Listen to this PODCAST
with Dr. Byron Folwell on The Back Doctors Podcast with
Dr. Michael Johnson as he describes The Cox® Technic
System of Spinal Pain Management integration for relieving
post-surgical continued back pain.
Make your Richmond chiropractic
appointment soon. Do not let numbers concern
you. Let them enlighten your path to pain relief. See
you soon!