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Richmond Chiropractic and Back Pain Relief Expectations via Surgical or Conservative Care

What expectations do you have of your Richmond chiropractic care of back pain? That is a key question. Research reports that it has a role in back pain treatment outcome be the treatment surgical or conservative. Johnson Chiropractic intends to listen to you and your expectations of our Richmond back pain treatment and share what our treatment’s outcomes have been in practice and in research.

INFLUENTIAL EXPECTATIONS FOR BACK SURGERY OUTCOMES

A recent research project examined patient and surgeon expectations of back surgery. Patients expected full relief and improvement of their back pain after lumbar spine surgery. Surgeons expected improvement that varied from a little to a lot dependant on the patient and his/her specific condition. Whose expectations were met? The surgeons’ expectations. A couple years after the back surgery, the outcomes reported by patients met the surgeon’s expectations. The researchers stressed that effective communication about expectations may well further better outcomes. (1) That’s why Johnson Chiropractic spends time with each Richmond back pain patient early on in care, ensuring that the source of pain and its treatment plan are well-explained. If not, ask us!

AN ACCEPTABLE SYMPTOM STATE

If original patient expectations aren’t  met with back surgery, what is an “acceptable symptom state” for that back pain patient? What can he/she live with? For patients with chronic non-specific low back pain (with or without active discopathy), 54% reported having an acceptable symptom state at 1 month of care. Specifically, patient-reported acceptable symptoms included: 47.5 for lumbar pain, 30.5 for radicular pain, 39.3 for disability, 10.0 for anxiety, and 6.7 for depression. (2) Johnson Chiropractic appreciates that no pain is the preferred state and is ready to discuss with our Richmond chiropractic patients their options and potential outcomes.

DECIDING ON TREATMENT OPTIONS

The question of back surgery is a big issue. Evidence-based medicine views the patient as being the center of care. What is the patient perspective of this care? How is the patient perspective taken into consideration in treatment planning and choosing from available options? A new paper indicated that the patient’s social, psychological, and other non-clinical characteristics must be considered in planning care. (3) One issue in the back-surgery decision that reportedly impacts the decision and the outcome expectation is opioid use. Lower dose and shorter-time-taking opioid use patients expected more complete improvement opposed to non-users. They also had higher expectations of positive outcome than higher-dose opioid patients. (4) For many patients, the prospect of work is goal of back pain treatment which is positive according to this new report on how back pain patient recovery expectations influence clinical outcomes. A review of 60 studies reported that a patient’s recovery expectations are probably strongly associated with future work participation. (5) Johnson Chiropractic uses effective, nonsurgical care of back pain to meet patient expectations once the research on outcomes for other back pain sufferers is described and understood. Richmond chiropractic care keeps the back pain patient at its center.

CONTACT Johnson Chiropractic

Check out this PODCAST with Dr. Anthony Galante on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he explained how Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management and chiropractic treatment assisted in the management of back pain for a patient who was absolutely positive about not wanting back surgery.

Schedule your next Richmond chiropractic visit soon. Johnson Chiropractic invites you to ponder and answer the question of your expectations for our treatment so that we can both be satisfied with the outcome!

 
Johnson Chiropractic strives to meet realistic patient expectations when it comes to conservative back pain relief. 
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"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."