For many, seeing and hearing ocean waves
is calming. For Minster neck pain and back pain patients, feeling the wave of healing pain relief can be the same if they understand it. For those who do not understand that pain waxes
and wanes while healing, the wave of
healing can be saddening. Minster Chiropractic Center helps our
patients understand 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 system
to classify neck pain patients and their pain patterns by studying
1208 neck pain patients. They came up with 16 subgroups! Wow.
The biggest 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% reporting
pain at a 2.7. “Persistent fluctuating” pain patients
were those disturbed 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 12 months. The
patient responses were very similar in defining
the pain intensity but not as much for the symptoms and their
characteristics. (2) Minster Chiropractic Center 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 Minster chiropractic patients are distinctive!
THE HEALING “WAVE”
For a year, another study followed
1124 neck pain patients seeing a chiropractor. Neck pain patients
experiencing “persistent pain” – 75% to 63% over 12 months - and very minor pain stayed 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 wavelike
than a straight line. While healing, pain comes and goes.
Going away more than it comes is a positive sign of
healing and pain relief. Minster Chiropractic Center repeatedly tells our Minster
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 described here regarding
the patterns of neck pain and back pain sufferers emphasizes
the on-going need for them to have partners like their
chiropractors as well as general practitioners to handle
it, understand it, and care for it. One researcher explained
how a patient who underwent 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 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 Minster Chiropractic Center
Listen to this PODCAST
with Dr. John Murray on The
Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he presents patient
cases that were difficultcomplex and yet attained
relief with The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management over
time.
Schedule your Minster chiropractic
appointment today. Together, we will work toward
the calming wave of healing and celebrate the pain relief.
