For many, ocean waves are calming. For Tonawanda back pain and neck pain patients, experiencing the wave of healing pain relief can be the same if they understand it. For those who don’t get that pain will come and go while healing, the wave of healing can be frustrating. Chiropractic Spine Sports And Rehabilitation helps our patients appreciate the wave of healing, are aware of the research supporting our relieving treatment plan, and celebrate the pain relief they get.
DESCRIBING AND RATING PAIN
Since back and neck pain experiences are filled with fluctuating symptoms as they heal, researchers have worked on a method to classify neck pain patients and their pain patterns by tracking 1208 neck pain patients. They produced 16 subgroups! Wow. The largest subgroup was “mild persistent fluctuating” with 25% of the patients in it rating their 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 labeling and rating pain, researchers had patients portray their pain using a visual picture scale about their pain intensity and symptomatology over a year. The patient responses were quite similar in defining the pain intensity but not as much for the symptoms and their characteristics. (2) Chiropractic Spine Sports And Rehabilitation notices that everybody feels pain in slightly different ways and that they find certain sorts of pain more annoying than others do. All of our Tonawanda chiropractic patients are unique!
THE HEALING “WAVE”
For a year, another study followed 1124 neck pain patients who saw a chiropractor. Neck pain patients having “persistent pain” – 75% to 63% over the year - and very minor pain remained relatively stable. Those who had “episodic pain” – 21% to 24% over the year – changed more in their pain patterns. (3) This is why we forewarn our back and neck pain patients that recovery is more like a wave than a straight line. While healing, pain comes and goes. Going away more than it comes is a solid sign of healing and pain relief. Chiropractic Spine Sports And Rehabilitation repeatedly tells our Tonawanda 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 emphasizes 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 experienced neck pain and cervical arm pain due to adjacent segment disease – a condition often seen in spinal discs around the spinal level that underwent back surgery - was treated with cervical manipulation, flexion distraction decompression (Cox®), soft-tissue mobilization, and therapeutic ultrasound for resolution of pain. (4) Again, pain relief is seldom sudden, but rather slow and steady with treatment, coming/going pain intensity, patience, and appreciation for the relief gotten be it 50%, 70% or 90% as supported by the 50% Rule of Cox® Technic.
CONTACT Chiropractic Spine Sports And Rehabilitation
Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. John Murray on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he shares patient cases that were complicated and yet found relief with The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management over time.
Make your Tonawanda chiropractic appointment soon. Together, we will aim for the calming wave of healing and celebrate the pain relief.
