For many, seeing and hearing ocean waves
is calming. For Oxford 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 understand that pain ebbs and flows while healing, the wave of
healing can be saddening. Satterwhite Chiropractic helps our
patients understand the wave of healing, know 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 complete
with fluctuating symptoms as they get better,
researchers tried to come up with a method
to classify neck pain patients and their pain patterns by tracking
1208 neck pain patients. They produced 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 (10
worst pain). The “moderate episodic” group had 24% reporting
pain at a 2.7. “Persistent fluctuating” pain patients
were those bothered more by pain than the others. (1) Instead
of just defining 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 quite similar in defining
the pain intensity but not as much for the symptoms and their
characteristics. (2) Satterwhite Chiropractic observes that everybody
senses pain in slightly different ways
and that they find certain types of pain more annoying than others
do. All of our Oxford chiropractic patients are unique!
THE HEALING “WAVE”
For a year, another study followed
1124 neck pain patients who saw a chiropractor. Neck pain patients
experiencing “persistent pain” – 75% to 63% over 12 months - 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 tell
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 sign of
healing and pain relief. Satterwhite Chiropractic repeatedly tells our Oxford
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 partners like their
chiropractors as well as general practitioners to handle
it, understand it, and care for it. A researcher described
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 systematic with treatment,
coming/going pain intensity, patience, and appreciation for the relief attained
be it 50%, 70% or 90% as explained by the 50% Rule of Cox®
Technic.
CONTACT Satterwhite Chiropractic
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 with
time.
Make your Oxford chiropractic
appointment soon. Together, we will aim for
the calming wave of healing and celebrate the pain relief.
