What expectations do you have of your
chiropractic care of Ashburn
back pain? That is a pivotal question. Research
reports that it has a role in back pain treatment outcome be the
treatment surgical or conservative. Poulin Chiropractic of Herndon and Ashburn intends
to hear your expectations of our Ashburn back
pain treatment and present what our treatment’s outcomes have been in practice and in
research.
INFLUENTIAL EXPECTATIONS FOR BACK SURGERY OUTCOMES
A new research project scrutinized
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 depending
on the patient and his/her specific condition. Can you guess whose expectations were met? The surgeons’
expectations. Two years after the back surgery, the patient-reported outcomes met the surgeon’s expectations.
The researchers emphasized that effective communication about expectations
may well foster better outcomes. (1) That’s
why Poulin Chiropractic of Herndon and Ashburn spends time with each Ashburn
back pain patient early on in care, ensuring
that the source of pain and its treatment plan are well-described.
If not, tell us!
AN ACCEPTABLE SYMPTOM STATE
If initial
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% stated 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) Poulin Chiropractic of Herndon and Ashburn realizes no pain is the preferred state and is prepared to discuss
with our Ashburn chiropractic patients their options and possible
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 considered in treatment planning and choosing from available options? A recent paper pointed
out that the patient’s social, psychological, and other non-clinical
characteristics must be considered in planning care. (3)
One factor in the back-surgery decision that reportedly influences
the decision and the outcome expectation is opioid use. Lower dose and shorter-time-taking
opioid use patients expected more complete improvement compared
with non-users. They also had higher
expectations of positive outcome than higher-dose opioid patients. (4) For a
lot of patients, the prospect of work is a light at the end of the
tunnel which is encouraging
according to a new report on how back pain patient recovery
expectations impact clinical outcomes. A review of
60 studies reported that a patient’s recovery expectations are
probably strongly associated with future work participation. (5) Poulin Chiropractic of Herndon and Ashburn uses
effective, nonsurgical treatment of back pain to meet patient expectations once the research on outcomes for other back pain
sufferers is described and understood. Ashburn chiropractic care keeps the back pain patient at its center.
CONTACT Poulin Chiropractic of Herndon and Ashburn
Check out this PODCAST
with Dr. Anthony Galante on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr.
Michael Johnson as he described how Cox®
Technic System of Spinal Pain Management and chiropractic treatment assisted
in the management of back pain for a patient who was adamant about not wanting back surgery.
Set your next Ashburn
chiropractic visit today. Poulin Chiropractic of Herndon and Ashburn wants to know your answer to the question of your
expectations for our treatment so that we can both be happy
with the outcome!