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

Emergency room physicians are trying to figure out what is optimal to offer back pain patients who choose the ER for help. It is a dilemma for them, especially since nearly 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 Richmond ER doc help? How can an ER doctor provide higher value care? (2) Imaging and medication. What can the Richmond chiropractic back pain specialist provide? 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 visit the emergency room for back pain (as opposed to 1 in 4 who visit a primary care physician) gets imaging done: simple imaging 26%, complex imaging 8.2%. (3) Today’s imaging guidelines don’t support this as they say to hold off on imaging for 4-6 weeks of conservative care before imaging. (4) Maybe patients are letting the ER doctors know that they have been using such care already? Probably not as only 34% of patients who visit an ER tell 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 studied a variety of pain medication combinations ER doctors have used to determine what is effective. What have they discovered? Stronger pain medication options do not offer much of a difference. Adding baclofen, metaxalone, or tizanidine to ibuprofen doesn’t seem 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) Mixing ibuprofen and acetaminophen did not 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 visit an ER for their back pain continued to experience functional impairment 3 months later as well as 42% reported 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 Richmond chiropractic back pain specialist at Johnson Chiropractic is prepared with the best of chiropractic care for Richmond back pain relief.

CHIROPRACTIC: MANIPULATION AND NUTRIENTS

Your Richmond chiropractor understands. Familiarity 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 Richmond chiropractor’s confidence that back pain relief and management for many otherwise frustrated Richmond back pain patients is promising.

Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. Michael Schneider on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson who shares the role of the primary spine physician who would be the physician to seek out for back pain issues.

CONTACT Johnson Chiropractic

Schedule a Richmond chiropractic visit with Johnson Chiropractic especially if an emergency department trip hasn’t produced the pain relief you hoped. Richmond chiropractic care has figured out a well-documented and researched way to manage back pain.

	Johnson Chiropractic invites Richmond back pain patients to the clinic instead of the emergency room for pain meds whenever possible. 
 
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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."