For many, ocean waves are calming. For Sandy Springs back pain and
neck pain patients, feeling the wave of relief from
pain can be the same if they understand it. For those who do not get that pain waxes
and wanes while healing, the wave of
healing can be saddening. Cross Chiropractic Center 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 method
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 reporting pain as a 3.4 out of 10 (0 no pain). The “moderate episodic” group had 24% with a pain rating of 2.7. “Persistent fluctuating” pain patients
were those disturbed more by pain than the others. (1) Instead
of just describing 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 very similar in explaining
the pain intensity but not so much for the symptoms and their
characteristics. (2) Cross Chiropractic Center observes that everybody
senses pain in slightly different ways
and that they find certain sorts of pain more annoying than others
do. All of our Sandy Springs chiropractic patients are distinctive!
THE HEALING “WAVE”
For 12 months, another study tracked
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 – shifted
more in their pain patterns. (3) This is why we inform
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 positive signal of
healing and pain relief. Cross Chiropractic Center reminds our Sandy Springs
neck pain and back pain patients to not be discouraged along the way. We
will get there together!
CHIROPRACTIC IN MANAGING BACK AND NECK PAIN PATTERNS
Research such as explained here about
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 handle
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 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 explained by the 50% Rule of Cox®
Technic.
CONTACT Cross Chiropractic Center
Listen to this PODCAST
with Dr. John Murray on The
Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he shares patient
cases that were difficultcomplex and yet attained
relief with The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management with
time.
Make your Sandy Springs chiropractic
appointment soon. Together, we will aim for
the calming wave of healing and celebrate the pain relief.
