For many, ocean waves are calming. For Richmond back pain and neck pain patients, feeling the wave of healing pain relief can be the same if they are aware of it. For those who don’t understand that pain waxes and wanes while healing, the wave of healing can be saddening. Johnson Chiropractic helps our patients appreciate the wave of healing, know the research behind our relieving treatment plan, and celebrate the pain relief they experience.
DESCRIBING AND RATING PAIN
Since back and neck pain experiences are complete with fluctuations of symptoms as they get better, researchers tried to come up with a system to classify neck pain patients and their pain patterns by tracking 1208 neck pain patients. They produced 16 subgroups! Wow. The biggest subgroup was “mild persistent fluctuating” with 25% of the patients in it reporting pain as a 3.4 out of 10 (10 worst pain). The “moderate episodic” group had 24% with a pain rating of 2.7. “Persistent fluctuating” pain patients were those bothered more by pain than the others. (1) Instead of just describing and rating pain, researchers had patients describe their pain using a visual picture scale about their pain intensity and symptomatology over 12 months. The patient responses were quite similar in defining the pain intensity but not as much for the symptoms and their characteristics. (2) Johnson Chiropractic notices that everybody senses pain in somewhat different ways and that they find certain sorts of pain more annoying than others do. All of our Richmond chiropractic patients are distinctive!
THE HEALING “WAVE”
For 12 months, another study tracked 1124 neck pain patients who saw a chiropractor. Neck pain patients experiencing “persistent pain” – 75% to 63% over 12 months - and very minor pain remained relatively stable. Those who had “episodic pain” – 21% to 24% over the year – had greater changes in their pain patterns. (3) This is the reason we tell our back and neck pain patients that recovery is more like a wave than a straight line. While healing, pain ebbs and flows. Going away more than it comes is a solid sign of healing and pain relief. Johnson Chiropractic repeatedly tells our Richmond neck pain and back pain patients to not be discouraged along the way. We’ll get there together!
CHIROPRACTIC IN MANAGING BACK AND NECK PAIN PATTERNS
Research such as explained here regarding the patterns of neck pain and back pain sufferers reflects the on-going need for them to have team members like their chiropractors along with general practitioners to manage it, understand it, and care for it. A researcher explained how a patient who had spinal surgery 30 years ago now had neck pain and cervical arm pain due to adjacent segment disease – a condition often seen in spinal discs above and below a spinal level that underwent back surgery - was treated with cervical manipulation, flexion distraction decompression (Cox®), soft-tissue mobilization, and therapeutic ultrasound for pain relief. (4) Again, pain relief is seldom sudden, but rather slow and steady with treatment, coming/going pain intensity, patience, and appreciation for the relief attained be it 50%, 70% or 90% as supported by the 50% Rule of Cox® Technic.
CONTACT Johnson Chiropractic
Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. John Murray on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he presents patient cases that were complicated and yet attained relief with The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management over time.
Schedule your Richmond chiropractic appointment today. Together, we will work toward the calming wave of healing and celebrate the pain relief.
