Enhancing Your Health: Top Perks Of Chiropractic Care in Amarillo
Many people in their daily life experience lots of things that impact their bodies. Disorders or dysfunction in their musculoskeletal system can benefit from chiropractic care. Pain relief for the back and neck, headache and migraine relief, treatment for herniated discs or bulging discs, increased athletic performance, and injury rehabilitation – these all are some top perks that a person can get from chiropractic care if they have a misaligned neck, back or spine.
Healing benefits of chiropractic care
No matter what the reason behind your pain and issues, some of the numerous perks research show you may enjoy as a result of chiropractic care in Amarillo include:
- Feeling more relaxed
- Injury prevention
- Less muscle spasms
- Quicker recovery
- Decrease of pain
- Decreased in the amount of inflammation in joints
- Enhanced flexibility
- Enhanced circulation and better movement
More perks of chiropractic care in Amarillo
There are still some people who have misguided concepts regarding the advantages of chiropractic care. Whereas the medical field once attacked chiropractors, the big boys of the medical field are now recommending chiropractic care as a first-line treatment for back and neck pain. These include the American College of Physicians, the FDA, the Journal of the American Medical Association, the Center for Disease Control, the Joint Commission, the White House, and even Consumer Reports.
Some of the benefits commonly heard from chiropractic patients are as follows:
- More productivity, energy and physical strength in adults
- Women may have enhanced comfort amid labor and pregnancy
- For seniors, many report sleeping better, better balance, and lowered injury from falls
- Enhanced flexibility and overall range of motion
Some other advantages and results reported by patients who have enjoyed chiropractic care are as follows:
- Enhanced overall health
- Enhanced exercising
- Better vitality
- More confidence in movement and athletic performance.
Research and study continue as you look at the advantages of chiropractic care!
In some cases, a patient instantly encounters relief after undergoing treatment. It can be impressive. Building and recovering from an issue by treating the source is one of the perks of choosing chiropractic care in Amarillo over medical and surgical processes, which sometimes need a long time for recovery and sometimes just don’t work at all. And let’s face it, surgery is invasive and irreversible. You don’t have to worry about that when it comes to chiropractic care.
A good, solid and consistent regimen of spinal manipulation, therapeutic modalities, and targeted exercise/rehab tends to turn lives around almost immediately.
Chiropractic care in Amarillo may be the best choice you can make if you approach your health from a conservative, non-pharma, non-invasive perspective.
Please feel free to call us at 806-355-3000 and set up a free consultation if you have more questions. Or, just tell our staff that you need a new patient appointment and let’s get started on getting you back to feeling normal again.
806-355-3000
www.creekstonecare.com
www.amarillochiropractor.com
“After My Car Wreck In Amarillo, I went to the ER and saw my doctor. Do I still need treatment?”
The short answer is, “Yes,” but let’s explain.
Seeking care from a medical provider or from the emergency room after a car wreck is always a great idea but what about the management of your injury going further? They are only going to treat you for something that appears to be life-threatening. They are typically not set up, nor do they typically have expertise, to treat you for long-term implications following your car wreck in Amarillo.
Let’s be honest, barring emergencies, most medical providers in the Amarillo area will not treat you if you have been involved in a car wreck in Amarillo and your injury is a result of that car wreck. We are talking about general practitioners, urgent cares, surgeons, and physical therapists.
We have yet to figure out why this is the case, but can assume that it is due to there being car insurance involved rather than health insurance and, sometimes, attorneys are involved. Medical providers are not typically knowledgeable or adept at dealing with attorneys or car insurance so they simply refuse to see those patients.
While that is understandable on one level, it is certainly frustrating on another. Patients injured in a car wreck in Amarillo have few options due to this issue. As a result, many times, they go without treatment and truly suffer in the long-term as a result.
To compound the issue, the patients injured in the car wreck are not typically given the recommendation to see a whiplash or biomechanical expert for further case management. If the medical providers simply told the patients that a chiropractic office in Amarillo called Creek Stone Integrated Care was particularly good at treating patients injured in a car wreck in Amarillo and it’s doctor was recognized as an expert on Whiplash in District Court, we think it would save a lot of problems!
Practitioners such as Doctors of Chiropractic are more uniquely equipped to help manage whiplash and other car wreck injuries in the months following a wreck than most other practitioners. Chiropractors are recognized around the world as spine care experts and more and more patients with neck, back, and low back pain are seeking care with more Chiropractors.
Being the third largest doctorate-level profession in America puts Doctors of Chiropractic squarely in the conversation as an accessible, reasonable route to take for the treatment of your car wreck injury.
Here are a few of the reasons further case management by a chiropractor in Amarillo may be a good idea for you.
- Injuries are not always obvious after a wreck. Sometimes, whiplash happens immediately. Sometimes, it is delayed up to a month or more before setting in. The best way to avoid late onset of whiplash is to catch it early so that it does not become chronic and go on to be a more serious issue.
- Many times, primary practitioners or emergency room physicians are not well-schooled in whiplash, risk factors involved in a wreck for acute injury, and/or risk factors involved in a wreck for chronic pain that can follow. As a result, some car wreck victims are prescribed painkillers, muscle relaxers, and anti-inflammatories with little or no recommendations for care going further. Whiplash is a mechanical injury that responds better to mechanical treatment through a chiropractor or even a physical therapist rather than through chemical treatment such as medication.
- Some healthcare providers are not educated on the best kind of x-rays to perform to evaluate for whiplash injuries. X-rays in different positions would be preferred. A second opinion from a whiplash expert can be very important as well.
- In a wreck, your body goes from one speed to another in a millisecond: literally. Medication does nothing to address the muscles and micro-tears than can arise from such an injury. See a biomechanical expert.
- If you saw your doctor for your shoulder, knee, hip, or some other area, who is evaluating and treating you for your neck, mid-back, and low back?
- A recommended course of after-care can help avoid long-term pain and restore the range of motion in the neck, back, and low back potentially setting you up for a more successful recovery and outcome.
If you get in a car wreck in Amarillo, TX, get treated if you feel it’s an emergency by a medical professional…..THEN get seen and treated by a biomechanical expert on whiplash. Get seen by Dr. Jeff Williams at Creek Stone Integrated Care. Call 806-355-3000 and let’s get you on the right track.
Find a Chiropractor in Amarillo to Explore Health Benefits of Chiropractic Care
If you live in the Amarillo area, or even the Texas Panhandle in general, and are dealing with headaches, backaches, and joint pain on a regular basis, you must contact a chiropractor in Amarillo for a natural and efficient treatment option. People across the globe are these days experiencing the amazing health benefits of chiropractic care. Knowing that it is a non-invasive and holistic approach that can treat different health issues, Amarillo people are taking advantage of chiropractic care more and more these days.
If you listen to the Chiropractic Forward Podcast that I host or visit Creek Stone Integrated Care here in Amarillo, you will get to know that research-based chiropractic care is usually a drug-free process to heal a human body in a natural way, and that research and the medical field are more and more in favor of recommending chiropractic care in Amarillo. Certainly for spinal pain.
Some health benefits offered by Creek Stone and other chiropractors in Amarillo incorporate:
1. Improvement of posture
Daily chiropractic health adjustments can help you enhance your posture by helping you pay more attention to your spine, posture, and movement patterns. Some people get neck problems at a young age because of continually sitting in a position in front of an electronic device, PC, or TV. Hence, regular chiropractic care can help boost your posture, keeping you stronger and more mindful of proper biomechanics.
2. Improvement of sleep
These days, many people suffer from sleep problems. Nevertheless, many sleep issues are associated with body aches, stress, and pain. If you take care of these problems with dynamic chiropractic care, it will help you boost your sleep quality, providing you a better night’s rest.
3. Relieving stress
When in pain, the body and mind can certainly become stressed to a certain extent. This goes without saying. We tell patients all the time that pain can change a person. If you’ve ever experienced pain, you understand that it is a fact. Your body will instantly feel less stressful if it is balanced and moving correctly. According to the research highlighted on the Chiropractic Forward Podcast, this is the first-line way to treat stress, tension, and non-complicated musculoskeletal complaints.
4. No involvement of medications
Medications can surely help you get relief from your health problems in certain situations. But at what cost in regards to side effects? Haven’t we all seen the commercials for prescriptions that encourage us to make our physicians give them to us, but then warn us of the obstacle courses of side effects that are possible? That’s scary stuff. Some medications bring both negative and positive impacts. What if there were a way to take care of headaches/migraines, low back pain, mid back pain, neck pain, and joint pain in a way that didn’t not require medications?
Voila! All you need is to opt for a drug-free approach with the help of a doctor of chiropractic. Preferably this doctor of chiropractic in Amarillo found at Creek Stone Integrated Care.
Many times, we can give you relief from pains and aches without any use of drugs, resulting in a holistic way of treatment. With a preventative mindset going forward, we can usually keep it that way while raising the overall level of health.
Now that you have all the details regarding some awesome benefits of chiropractic care, what are you going to do? To lead a healthy and painless life, don’t hesitate to contact a chiropractor in Amarillo.
Call up an expert chiropractor in Amarillo
Call Up Dr. Jeff Williams, DC at Creek Stone Integrated Care in Amarillo, TX at 806-355-3000 today and let’s get you seen ASAP.
Researchers Argue Whiplash & Car Wreck Injuries Are Indeed Valid
All attorneys treating personal injury and car wreck clients/patients are familiar with the insurance companies’ claims that people aren’t really hurt or that whiplash cannot cause any real, chronic injury.
We have been treating personal injury patients since 2007, Dr. Williams has been an expert witness at trial, and we have seen hundreds of car wreck patients over the years.
These personal injury and car wreck patients most certainly ARE injured to some extent in almost every case. Even low-speed impact cases. Especially in low-speed crashes. When the vehicle doesn’t “crush,” the force of the impact is not allowed to “ride down” with the crumple of the vehicle. The force is transferred directly to the occupant in these types of crashes.
Regarding the mechanism of injury: forces of the collision caused compression, tension, shearing, and rotational forces converging in a rapid sequence which is virtually instantaneous. It is the timing, or the lack of time for the body to react to these forces, that causes the injury anatomically and scientifically.
Think about it this way: when you go from one speed to another speed in a millisecond, there is going to be damage to the tissues holding everything together. Most commonly damaged are the postural muscles. Those are the muscles keeping your body and head upright correctly.
Dr. Williams’s Advanced Certification in Whiplash Biomechanics & Traumatology has aided us in evaluating these car wreck patients, aided us in their case management, and aided us in backing every aspect of treatment by research citation in their narrative reports.
If you think Dr. Williams can help you here at Creek Stone after a car wreck, please call 806-355-3000 and let us get you in as soon as possible.
We are experienced in working with the attorney, working with you if you do not have an attorney, billing the other person’s insurance, or billing your own personal injury protection insurance.
It usually does not cost the injured person a dime to get checked and get treatment so call us at 806-355-3000 as soon as possible.
Freeman & Croft are research leaders and experts in the industry when it comes to whiplash, crash reconstruction, and the biomechanics involved in crashes.
They put together a paper in 1999 called “A review and methodologic critique of the literature refuting whiplash syndrome” that was published in the esteemed Spine Journal. Citation is included below.
Why They Did It
Many times, the insurance companies claim “Whiplash” is an idea or a theory but not necessarily a real thing, although medical research validated whiplash years ago. Some authors on the side of the insurance companies hoping to not cover medical costs or the costs of pain and suffering have published articles here and there taking the stance that injuries are unlikely or even impossible at certain speeds. Others have published articles suggesting any psychological issues after a wreck are based purely on financial gain or litigation. All of this, even though research has been there for years showing whiplash to be a serious issue as well as the other conditions a personal injury or car wreck patient may face such as concussion, psychological issues, etc..
How They Did It
- The authors of this paper reviewed the biomedical and engineering literature relating to whiplash syndrome, searching for articles that claimed there was no validity to whiplash injuries.
- Twenty articles were identified and included.
- The methodology described in these articles was evaluated critically to determine if the authors’ observations regarding the validity of whiplash syndrome were scientifically sound.
What They Found
- The authors of this paper found that all of the articles contained significant methodological flaws with regard to their respective authors’ statements refuting the validity of whiplash syndrome.
- The most frequently found flaws were inadequate study size, non-representative study sample, non-representative crash conditions (for crash tests), and inappropriate study design.
Conclusion
“As a result of the current literature review, it was determined that there is no epidemiologic or scientific basis in the literature for the following statements: whiplash injuries do not lead to chronic pain, rear impact collisions that do not result in vehicle damage are unlikely to cause injury, and whiplash trauma is biomechanically comparable with common movements of daily living.”
Citation
Freeman MD, Crotft AC, “A review and methodolgic critique of the literature refuting whiplash syndrome.” Spine (Phila Pa 1976). 1999 Jan 1;24(1):86-96.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9921598
New Information About Cold Laser You Can Use
Did you know that cold laser, also known as low level laser, has been around for years now, but it’s use is just starting to gain popularity?
It is not really cold though. They called it cold laser to take the danger out of the name. When we think of lasers, we commonly think of burning or cutting lasers. Cold laser isn’t anything like that. In fact, you don’t even really feel it at all. That is, outside of the benefits!
The good side of cold laser
Here is a list of just some of the conditions cold laser is commonly used for:
- Athletic Injuries
- Lower Back Pain
- Knee and Foot Pain
- Shoulder Pain
- Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and most other neurological pains
- Arthritis, Fibromyalgia, Muscle Spasm (degenerative joint conditions)
- TMJ Disorders
- Relief of Muscle (strains or tears) and Joint Pain, including knees, hands, and ankles
- Soft Tissue Injuries, Including Sprains and Strains, Tendonitis and Hematomas, Rotator cuff, Tennis Elbow
- Joint Disorders and Conditions, Including Arthritis, and Tenosynovitis
- Chronic pain, including Trigeminal Neuralgia and Chronic Neck and Back pain
- Other Musculoskeletal Injuries
- Chronic non-healing wounds
- Pre and post surgical treatment
- Anti-inflammation applications
- Disc herniations
The bad side of cold laser is that it is not covered under insurance plans, as they still classify cold laser as “experimental and investigational.” The vast majority of papers out there in the research world are in favor and in support of cold laser. You have to understand that. One must also understand that, these days it seems, insurance plans aren’t in any hurry to add more stuff to pay for. Wouldn’t you agree?
In 1967 a few years after the first working laser was invented, Endre Mester in Semmelweis University in Budapest, Hungary experimented with the effects of lasers on skin cancer. In his experiments, he was treating the backs of mice with different lasers. In doing so, he noticed that the shaved hair grew back more quickly on the treated group than the untreated group.
I can promise you that Mest had no idea where his research would lead in the 50 years that would follow his findings.
Here is a paper from 2014 published in the International Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery called “Does low-level laser therapy decrease swelling and pain resulting from orthognathic surgery?”
These researchers were looking for ways to help people to treat swelling and inflammation following facial surgery.
How They Did It
- 10 patients had surgery on both sides of their faces.
- The patients had cold laser treatment on one side of their face while they had a fake treatment on the other side of the face.
- The two sides were compared to see if it worked.
What They Found
- On the side treated with cold laser, swelling decreased significantly on day three, day seven, day fifteen, and day thirty.
- Self-reported pain was reduced on the treatment side at the one-day mark and at the three-day mark. The pain was gone on both sides by day 7.
Wrap It Up
The authors of this paper concluded, “This LLLT protocol can improve the tissue response and reduce the pain and swelling resulting from orthognathic surgery.”
That’s wonderful news. While it doesn’t have a lot to do with conditions that chiropractors normally treat, we chiropractors DO see plenty of swelling, pain, and inflammation in joints, in the back, and neck. It shows that cold laser does certainly have some use.
Another paper in a very prestigious journal called The Lancet over in England said, “We show that LLLT reduces pain immediately after treatment in acute neck pain and up to 22 weeks after completion of treatment in patients with chronic neck pain.”
And then there’s this paper from 2003 we will cover quickly. It’s called “Efficacy of low power laser therapy and exercise on pain and functions in chronic low back pain” and written by A. Gur, et. al.. It was published in Lasers in Surgery and Medicine(Gur A 2003).
The researchers decide that, “Low power laser therapy seemed to be an effective method in reducing pain and functional disability in the therapy of chronic LBP.”
That’s pretty cool, people!! Yet, insurance companies refuse to cover it. Do you smell something fishy here? We certainly do.
I don’t know how to make insurance companies cover something they don’t want to cover. However, I can tell you that their choice to make it an uncovered service does not mean it is not effective. On the contrary. I hope we have demonstrated that you should indeed seek treatment with cold laser.
If you have any questions regarding cold laser or musculoskeletal complaints in general, give us a call at 806-355-3000 and let us schedule you for a free consultation with our staff.
Best of health,
Jeff Williams, DC
http://www.amarillochiropractor.com
http://www.creekstonecare.com
Bibliography
Gur A (2003). “Efficacy of low power laser therapy and exercise on pain and functions in chronic low back pain.” Lasers Surg Med 32(3): 233-238.
Spinal Decompression – Does It Work?
The short answer to the question, “Spinal Decompression – does it work?” is YES.
It absolutely works.
The first thing to know is that we would not offer spinal decompression in our office or charge for the service if it did not work. Of course it works. We only offer services that we can back up with research including other services we have here in our offices like cold laser, acupuncture, massage, physiotherapies, exercise/rehab, spinal decompression, and, of course, chiropractic care. Dr. Williams is very research-based and evidence-based. In fact, Dr. Williams hosts a weekly podcast called Chiropractic Forward discussing research papers and evidence-based chiropractic care. (http://www.chiropracticforward.com)
The second thing to know is that, in our office, NOTHING we do will EVER be based on financial gain. It is our policy to conduct business at the highest level of honesty and ethics. Dr. Williams has said time and time again, “When you treat people right, when you treat people as you would treat your own family members, finances tend to take care of themselves and we’ll never have to worry too much about that part of it all.”
So far, Dr. Williams is right!
That is how our office goes through the day in general for all services and all aspects. We treat our patients like they are our family and not like they are a dollar sign. Guaranteed. Our philosophy is to give our best recommendations for our patients’ care based on experience, research, and knowledge the patient does not have, and then to be here however the patient wishes to use us. We are here to help and support the patient in their journey but based on how THE PATIENT wants to take that journey.
Enough about us. Let’s get back to talking about Spinal Decompression.
Let us simplify the concept. The discs in our spine stay hydrated and
healthy by moving, bending, and by going through our regular activities throughout the day. If for some reason a disc gets injured or stops working correctly, the disc can become inflamed and start to hurt .The pain can range from mild discomfort is certain positions to extreme, severe discomfort that keeps a person from being able to function at all.
Luckily, spinal decompression can help this. Spinal decompression can start to restore function in the hurt area and can simulate the normal daily activities in a controlled way.
With spinal decompression, we cannot only simulate the movement that
keeps discs healthy, but we can also decrease the amount of pressure on the disc and on the spinal cord, as well as on the nerves that come from the spinal cord and go into the arms and into the legs.
Medical research has shown that spinal decompression can reduce disc bulges or disc herniation, and spinal decompression can help rehydrate a dehydrated disc. All of this can help our patients with the following conditions:
- Pain into the arms
- Numbness into the arms
- Tingling into the arms
- Pain into the legs
- Numbness into the legs
- Tingling into the legs
- Spinal stenosis
- Spinal degeneration
- Degenerative discs
- Disc injury
- Facet Arthropathy
In addition to spinal decompression, we use cold laser therapy to enhance and speed up the healing process. Also known as low level laser, cold laser is backed by research, is FDA cleared, and is effective in healing the disc faster, decreasing the inflammation, and decreasing the pain resulting from a fired up disc issue.
We call our one-of-a-kind service Cold Laser-Enhanced Spinal Decompression and it is a powerful one-two punch.
We have seen our patients cancel surgeries. We have seen our patients cancel spinal injections, nerve blocks, and dangerous medications.
All because they came to us and tried Cold Laser-Enhanced Spinal Decompression.
If you are hurting, come talk to us. Consultations are free.
If you have been diagnosed with spinal arthritis, degeneration, disc bulges, disc herniations, or stenosis, come see us now. Chances are, we can help. Call us at 806-355-3000 today.
Crazy Update On Runaway Healthcare Spending in America
It is good to see the medical world beginning to examine itself with a clear lens. We have seen them turn blind eyes to many things we notice and research notices. As we have mentioned, there has been little attention given to the updated recommendations in favor of chiropractic, massage, and acupuncture. It is yet to be known what, if anything, will change following the series of low back pain papers recently published in The Lancet (March21, 2018).
I have been mentioning how I feel that the opioid crisis has opened many, many doors recently in regards to the medical field, clinical pathways, and in they way they are starting to look at the costs. Kudos to those in the medical field for beginning to call out their own protocols and question them for effectiveness vs. risk. Some procedures may be effective here and there but, in general, if the squeeze is not worth the push, then there is little to zero return on investment and it should be abandoned. Obviously, one’s health is different than a business stat sheet, but the metaphor is a valid one I believe.
Obamacare was supposed to heal all of our healthcare woes, right? From what I can tell, all it did was squeeze out the middle class. The folks that make too much to be subsidized but do not make enough to not really care about the new jacked health insurance rates.
For example, the premiums here in Texas have doubled or tripled in many cases while the insurance companies cover less and less. The co-payments have gone from $15-$20 all the way up to $50 and even $100. The deductibles have gone from $250 or $1,000 all the way up to $5000 or $10,000. In addition, the insurance companies are now reimbursing healthcare providers less: in many cases, 3/4 less.
Did you know that here in Texas, where a medical radiologist was once reimbursed up to $28+ or so for reading a neck series, they now get paid in the ballpark of $7 for the same series? I promise the doctors are not living less of a life than they were prior to Obamacare. Not at all. But, what is likely happening unconsciously is they are probably reading more x-rays more quickly to attempt to make up for the reduction in their pay.
Would you agree that this may put patients at more risk? I’m not saying doctors make a conscious decision to put patients at risk but, if a professional in ANY industry has a house in town, a house and boat on the lake, 3 cars, timeshare on a private plane, and things of that nature, when their income is cut by 3/4 in some cases, they will tend to find ways to make that up in ways that make sense to them. Regardless of profession or industry.
Maybe Obamacare just makes them more efficient rather than raising the patient risk. I do not have the answer on this but I do know that radiologists are responsible for everything on a film and their license is at risk on each and every film. When the government cut their pay that dramatically, the government began putting people at more risk. In my opinion of course.
I am firmly on the side of the medical field on this issue. The same type of thing is currently happening with the chiropractic industry as well. We are being reimbursed at smaller and smaller rates. We are seeing our covered patients being turned into cash patients whether we like it or not. The co-pays and deductibles are so high, the could just as easily be cash patients for our purposes. For this very reason, you are seeing more and more chiropractors in America begin to look at changing over to a cash-based practice model and drop insurance contracts all together.
I’m not certain every bit of this discussion is completely on topic but let me tie it up and bring it home through the use of this research paper. This paper appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) on March 23, 2018. It was titled “Health Care Spending in the United States and Other High-Income Countries” and was authored by Irene Papanicolas, PhD (Papanicolas I 2018).
Why They Did It
Healthcare spending in America is a long-time hot topic and issue that has never been adequately addressed. Part of the problem is that we Americans spend more than other high-income countries with little information that shows that any efforts to control expenses has done anything to help the problem.
These authors attempted to compare the big ticket items in healthcare in America with the same items in ten other high-income countries in an attempt to learn where improvement might be made here at home.
How They Did It
Information was mostly gained from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) from 2013-16. The OECD is an international organization comparing underlying differences in structural features, types of health care and social spending, and performance for several high-income countries.
What They Found
- In 2016, Americans spent 17.8% of its gross domestic product on healthcare while the other 10 nations spent from 9.6%-12.4%.
- Surprise, surprise….pharmaceutical costs spending per capita in America was $1443 vs. from $466-$939 in the other 10 countries. American doctors and patients love those pills.
- 90% of Americans are insured while 99%-100% were insured in the other 10 countries.
- The U.S. has the highest proportion of private insurance when compared to the other 10 countries, which is 55.3%.
- When it comes to smoking, Americans actually have the second lowest rate sitting at 11.4%.
- When we talk about obesity, the US has the highest proportion at 70.1%. Others range from 23.8%-63.4% for comparison purposes.
- The US life expectancy was the lowest at 78.8 years.
- US infant mortality was the highest rate of the 11 countries.
- There was no real difference in the American physician workforce, nurse workforce, etc., when compared to the other 10 countries.
- America has comparable numbers of hospital beds.
- Americans use MRIs and CTs when compared to the other 10 countries.
- The US had similar rates of utilization for acute myocardial infarction, pneumonia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, hip replacements, knee replacements, and coronary artery bypass graft surgery.
- Administrative costs of care in America stood at 8%, while the same measure in the other 10 countries ranged from 1%-3%.
- Salaries of physicians and nurses were higher in the US; for example, generalist physicians salaries were $218,173 in the US compared with a range of $86,607 to $154,126 in the other countries.
Wrap It Up
The authors of the paper concluded that, “The United States spent approximately twice as much as other high-income countries on medical care, yet utilization rates in the United States were largely similar to those in other nations. Prices of labor and goods, including pharmaceuticals, and administrative costs appeared to be the major drivers of the difference in overall cost between the United States and other high-income countries.”
My own wrap up would be that America spends twice as much money on healthcare while we have the highest rate of obesity, double the mount of pharmaceuticals, lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality, and higher administrative costs when we are compared to 10 other countries of similar income.
That’s not good, folks. Not good at all. When do the pharmaceutical companies stop controlling the medical profession and the medical profession turn it around to control the pharmaceutical companies? When does that happen exactly?
Did you know that, from 1948 until 1996, there was a TV ban on running liquor ads? You may see beer or wine ads but you would never see Jim Beam running a commercial between Alf and Different Strokes. But, how often do we see pharmaceutical ads on TV these days? It’s a shame to be honest. Shouldn’t the doctor be the one that is informed on medications rather than a 320 million people that are almost completely uneducated on pharmaceuticals? Should patients be going into doctors’ offices ready to pressure them into a certain medication because they saw it on TV?
It is absolutely insane and should have been stopped at the first mention of it. To make it fair or legal or whatever may be the case, they state a long laundry list of all of the things that may happen to you if you take it. But, the information is delivered and people are influenced.
If a patient goes in for something like erectile dysfunction, the doctor tells them what they need. They don’t tell the doctor!! Do you see the problem here? If the patient goes in for potential blood clots, the doctor should be telling them they need a certain type of thinner. That is not the patient’s place in any country on the entire planet.
Not only do the pharma companies control patient mentality in this way but they attempt control of the physicians. Pharma reps are skilled at what they do. They are highly trained and very well-paid to effect influence in their market’s physicians. They take them on dinners, bring the office lunches, pay for trips, etc. You can spot them at any doctor’s office you go to. Just look for the well-dressed person in the waiting room with a clipboard and a bag of goodies. That’s them!
I had a general practitioner that I had to finally fire. I had been living a bit unhealthy for several months when I went for a yearly checkup. My blood pressure was high. He immediately tried to put me on lifelong meds. I was overweight and drank a 12-pack of Bud Light here and there while traveling in a band playing music. You might say that I used to be a little bit ornery. Again, I was admittedly behaving badly. His diagnosis was that I was depressed and needed an antidepressant. Really?
Instead of trying some behavior modification, according to him, I needed lifelong blood pressure meds and lifelong antidepressant meds. Where does this mentality come from? What if we treat the CAUSE rather than the SYMPTOM?
First, I lost weight and started to behave. Guess what? My blood pressure returned to normal. As a result of ceasing traveling in a band, I basically quit drinking beer outside of social events. Boom! I was no longer depressed according to his definition.
This may seem like an extreme example to some but, it is my estimation that this sort of “doctoring” and “pill pushing” is far more common than one may even dream.
I am in no way against the medical field or against surgery or against medicine. I am against simple pill fixes. I’m against long-term meds when not needed. There are some conditions like diabetes or genetic high blood pressure that require long-term meds but, in many cases, they should be avoided. I’m against the medical field performing shots and surgeries and using opioids for musculoskeletal pain when the research is clear when it recommends chiropractic, massage, etc.. for those pains.
Basically, the medical field needs to stop thinking the pills are the be all-end all of healthcare and start looking more to the cause rather than just treating the symptoms. The physicians need to take the reins of their profession away from the pharmaceutical companies and wield the power over pharma that they attempt to wield over chiropractic and other alternative means of healthcare.
Did you know that research and clinical experience shows that, in about 80%-90% of headaches, neck, and back pain, in comparison to the traditional medical model, patients get good or excellent results with Chiropractic? Chiropractic care is safe, more cost-effective, it decreases your chances of having surgery, and it reduces your chances of becoming disabled. We do this conservatively and non-surgically. In addition, we can do it with minimal time requirements and minimal hassle on the part of the patient. And, if the patient develops a “preventative” mindset going forward from initial recovery, we can likely keep it that way while raising the general, overall level of health!
Please feel free to leave a comment and tell me your thoughts. I’d love to hear what you think. And….SHARE, SHARE, SHARE!! We cannot make a difference without your help.
Till next time……
The Amarillo Chiropractor Blog is written by Dr. Jeff Williams.
Amarillo TX Amarillo Pain & Accident Chiropractic Clinic provides customized chiropractic care to the Amarillo TX, Canyon TX, Pampa TX, Happy TX, White Deer TX, Dumas TX, Groom TX, Conway TX, Panhandle TX, Claude TX, Clarendon TX, Borger TX, Tulia, TX, Hereford TX, Fritch TX, Bushland TX, and Vega TX communities.
Visit our main website at www.amarillochiropractor.com for customized Chiropractic in Amarillo TX. Choose several options to schedule your appointment: call (806) 355-3000 or click the button below for our contact info.
by Jeff S. Williams, D.C.
Chiropractors in Amarillo
Spinal Decompression Amarillo
Creek Stone Integrated Care
http://www.amarillochiropractor.com
http://www.creekstonecare.com
Bibliography
Papanicolas I (2018). “Health Care Spending in the United States and Other High-Income Countries.” JAMA 319(10): 1024-1039.
Chiropractic: Evolution Or Extinction?
This week, I want to continue with discussions on low back pain (LBP) because that is the topic that is on fire at the moment. The momentum low back pain has picked up recently is a once in a lifetime rebooting of an entire thought process, of long-held clinical pathways, and of stubborn practitioner mentality and dogmatic beliefs.
I blame the national emergency we know as the “Opioid Crisis” for starting a more focused attack on low back pain. The statistics on low back pain are some incredible numbers. It’s the number one reason for disability in the world. That is truly impressive. However, low back pain as a global issue did not crop up in only the last several years. Granted, due to an older, aging population, it has increased, but low back pain has been a serious concern for many years at this point.
Yet, there were no global papers on low back pain. There were no articles in the journals for the American Medical Association and for the American College of Physicians recommending spinal manipulation (chiropractic adjustments) as an effective, first-line treatment for low back pain. We have simply never seen the attention based on the research that we have seen since the onset of the opioid crisis.
One must give kudos to the medical field in the sense that they recognize they have been partly the cause of the opioid crisis and, in turn, are taking steps to address the problem through new thinking and alternative means. Even if that means going against old dogmatic beliefs and against the common grain. I applaud the new directions. Although, there is still a very clear gap that will take time to fill in regards to what the practitioner is doing and what they SHOULD be doing.
We recently discussed a series of papers in The Lancet from March 21, 2018 that dealt with low back pain. The Lancet is one of the oldest and most respected medical journals in the world dating back to 1823 and the series of papers was compiled by an international, interdisciplinary group of experts. It is considered the best current information we have dealing with low back pain, it’s prevention, and going forward. I highly encourage you to read through the papers.
Since it would get a little boring going over the same three papers over and over, I am going to move along with other research and other information concerning low back pain.
I want to start with a paper that echoes the sentiments of The Lancet series in regards to the gap in what the evidence suggests and in what is actually happening in the real world. In all actuality, from here forward, I believe most of what we discuss on the topic of low back pain will somewhat echo the sentiments found in the recent Lancet papers.
Moving on, the papers we will discuss are arranged strategically and tell a story if you follow along.
To start, here is a paper from 2010 titled “Managing low back pain in the primary care setting: the know-do gap.” It was published in Pain Research & Management and authored by NA Scott, et. al. with the Institute of Health Economics in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Why They Did It
The goal for these authors was to identify gaps in knowledge in regards to diagnosis of acute and chronic low back pain in a primary care clinical setting for primary practitioners in Alberta, Canada in order to further determine what barriers lie in the way of the primary practitioners adopting a multidisciplinary approach in the treatment process.
How They Did It
- The authors accepted papers from 1996-2008.
- The papers compared clinical pathway patterns found in the primary practices and in the guides and recommendations found through searching literature databases, websites of various health technology assessment agencies, and libraries.
- The data was organized qualitatively.
What They Found
The search for quality papers yielded 14 that were considered relevant. Knowledge gaps were identified in the primary practices for red flags, imaging use, advice for bed rest and sick leave for low back pain, medications, and recommendations of alternative treatment means such as chiropractic, acupuncture, physiotherapy, etc.
Wrap It Up
The authors stated that a “know-do” gap certainly exists. Meaning, there is a difference in what the research is telling primary practices to do for low back pain and in what they are actually doing in the real world. The authors plan to use this information to develop a plan to implement more multidisciplinary protocols for low back pain by educating the primary practitioners on the guides and recommendations[1].
If we are to talk about the “Know-do” gap, what is a common result of there being a gap in knowledge of diagnosis and treatment when compared to actual researched guides?
To help shed some light on this, let us look at a paper from March of 2018 by Richard Deyo, et. al. at the Department of Family Medicine at Oregon Health Science University in Portland, Oregon. This paper is titled “Use of prescription opioids before and after an operation for chronic pain (lumbar fusion surgery)”
Why They Did It
Considering low back fusion surgery is typically performed to treat chronic low back pain, and considering that patients have the expectation of no longer needing opioids after a surgery, the authors were looking to discover three things:
- What amount of patients having long-term preoperative opioid use discontinued or reduced dosage after surgery?
- What amount of patients having had a smaller amount of preoperative opioid use initiated long-term use?
- What predicts whether a patient goes on to use opioids in the long-term after surgery?
How They Did It
- This was a retrospective cohort study
- There were 2,491 participants that had undergone lumbar fusion surgery to treat degenerative conditions.
- The researchers used Oregon’s prescription drug monitoring program to determine pre-op and post-op use of opioids by the test subjects.
- Long-term use was defined as more than 4 prescription refills 7 months after hospitalization, with at least 3 occurring more than 30 days after hospitalization.
What They Found
- 1,045 patients were identified as having long-term opioid use PRE-operatively.
- 1,094 were determined to have had long-term opioid us POST-operatively.
- From the long-term PRE-op patients, 71% continued long-term in POST-op use and 13.8% experienced episodic opioid use.
- A mere 9.1% of the long-term PRE-op patients had short-term use POST-op.
- In the group of patients that received no pre-operative opioids, 12.8% went on to use opioids long-term.
Wrap It Up
This paper suggests that the strongest predictor of whether a patient would use opioids long-term was the cumulative effect of PRE-op opioid doses. The paper also suggests that lumbar fusion surgery commonly had no effect on eliminating long-term opioid use, so patients that are unaware of the risks of opioid use run a risk of long-term use[2].
While I’m no orthopedic surgeon, I would ask, “Why are they doing lumbar fusions on stable segments in the first place considering the research showing that it should be a treatment of last resort?”
It should come after spinal manipulation, acupuncture, massage, exercise rehab, physiotherapy, cognitive behavior therapy, yoga, etc….. That is A LOT any sort of surgery should typically follow so why? Of course, I’m not making the money those folks make so, that may be the decision maker for some of them at least.
Moving from things going wrong to ways they can go right, there is this paper from the journal Pain from March 27, 2018 titled, “Spinal Manipulation and Exercise for Low Back Pain in Adolescents: A Randomized Trial by R. Evans, et. al. with the University of Minnesota’s Integrative Health and Wellbeing Research Program.” As a side note, Gert Bronfort was also listed as an author in this paper. If you are unfamiliar with Bronfort, he has authored several key papers previously.
Why They Did It<
The authors state that there is a “paucity” in high quality research on the matter of exercise vs. spinal manipulative therapy in the treatment of low back pain.
How They Did It
- The research was a multicenter, randomized trial
- 185 adolescents were included
- The participants ranged in age from 12-18 years old
- All had chronic low back pain
- Outcome assessments were measured at 12 weeks, 26 weeks, and at 52 weeks
What They Found
- The inclusion of spinal manipulative therapy (chiropractic adjustments) to exercise therapy had a greater effect on the reduction of low back pain severity over the course of a year.
- At the 26-week mark, the spinal manipulative therapy with exercise group had better effectiveness for disability and improvement over the exercise alone group.
Wrap It Up
The spinal manipulative therapy with exercise group had a significantly greater satisfaction with care at all time points. “There were no serious treatment-related adverse events. For adolescents with chronic LBP, spinal manipulation combined with exercise was more effective than exercise alone over a one-year period, with the largest differences occurring at six months. These findings warrant replication and evaluation of cost-effectiveness[3].”
We chiropractors have to love that paper now, don’t we?
Next, let’s look at a different level of recovery that deals with the way patients think as much as the treatment they undergo. Here is an article that appeared in HealthDay called “Overcoming Fear of Back Pain May Spur Recovery” by Steven Reinberg. The article was based on a recent paper that appeared in JAMA Neurology in April 16, 2018 published by lead researcher Anneleen Malfliet. It is usually wise to at least listen up when it’s in journals such as The Lancet or in the Journal of American Medical Association.
The research paper being cited once again echoes much of the sentiment laid forth in The Lancet low back series. Basically, their recommendations were as follows:
- We need to help patients think differently about their pain.
- We need to encourage patients to move in ways they had been afraid of.
- We need to teach patients with neck and back pain to remain active and/or increase their activity level gradually.
- We should avoid the use of scary or un-reassuring labels or diagnoses.
- We should not use pain levels as a reliable symptom or guideline to limit activity.
In short, research proved that patients following these guidelines showed less disability, a reduced fear of moving, and improvement in mental and physical outlook.
“Pain neuroscience education aims to change patients’ beliefs about pain, to increase their knowledge of pain and to decrease its threat,” Malfliet said[4].
Be sure to read the full article at:
https://consumer.healthday.com/bone-and-joint-information-4/backache-news-53/overcoming-fear-of-back-pain-may-spur-recovery-732970.html
Now that we chiropractors are taking the step more and more into the spotlight as the experts in the treatment of biomechanical issues, what can we do on our end to ensure our colleagues can confidently refer to us and see us as peers for these issues?
I can tell you that, being in the ER one night as a result of a viral infection, not only was the virus running crazy through me but my neck was killing me as well. I thought I would ask the ER doc if he had any orthopedic exams up his sleeve that could determine what on Earth was hurting me so bad. Between you, me, and the light post, I already had a good idea but was curious as to what he knew and I thought it may be something that both of us could learn from.
It was. He did a Spurling’s move and that was about it before he gave up and said, “Honestly man, you probably know what’s going on better than I do.” And he was right. I did. But, it showed me that he was honest and that he saw me as an expert in my field and I appreciated it. Of course, he’s more of an expert in his field which is why I was there in the first place. We all have our part to play in the treatment of patients. Don’t we?
Back to my original point: how do we increase our profile as spinal, biomechanical experts. How do we increase interdisciplinary, interprofessional trust in who we are and what we can do for our patients?
I can tell you what NOT to do if that helps anything. I do not see any use for chiropractic terminology that our colleagues do not understand. I personally do not use the term subluxation. In the dictionary, it is described as a partial dislocation. What does that mean in the medical mentality? It means a shoulder that was almost dislocated but reduced naturally. It means something along those lines. It does not mean a slight misalignment of a vertebra that causes cancer or whatever other conditions some describe.
I understand chiropractors wanting to stay separate and distinct. I get it. But, there is a difference between being separate and distinct and putting yourself in a category nobody understands, that everyone thinks is out on the fringe, and that nobody knows exactly how to utilize.
If our profession is not careful, it will separate itself into oblivion now that physical therapist, physiotherapists, and the medical world in general have discovered something we have known all along. That is that spinal manipulation and mobilization is one of the best and most effective means of treating neck and back pain.
What has kept us safe from them taking our business all of these years is that they all thought we were crazy! For some, they were right, but the basic principle our profession is based on was one that evidence eventually backed up and proved. Now we are in danger of losing it if we do not learn that separate and distinct may not be the most effective means of conducting our business.
The last paper I want to discuss is one called “How frequent are non-evidence-based health care beliefs in chiropractic students and do they vary across the pre-professional educational years” by Stanley Innes, et. al. It was published in Chiropractic & Manual Therapies in March 15, 2018.
Why They Did It
The authors wanted to determine what proportion of chiropractic students in Australia hold non-evidence-based beliefs from the start and what their beliefs are in the treatment of non-musculoskeletal health condition. In addition, the authors wanted to determine if the beliefs changed any over the course of their education.
How They Did It
- The study was performed in 2016.
- The information was taken from two chiropractic schools in Australia.
- The students answered a questionnaire with the following questions:
- How often would they give advice on five common health conditions in their future practices?
- What was their opinion about if chiropractic spinal adjustments could prevent or help seven health-related conditions?
- There were 444 responses to the questionnaire.
What They Found
- Students were highly likely to offer advice on non-musculoskeletal health conditions.
- The chances of a student doing so rose to the highest level in the last year of their education.
- High numbers of students held non-evidence-based ideas of the capabilities of chiropractic spinal adjustments in beginning which then tended to decrease in proportion until the last year. In the last year, the pattern reversed.
Wrap It Up
The authors were quoted as saying, “New strategies are required for chiropractic educators if they are to produce graduates who understand and deliver evidence-based health care and able to be part of the mainstream health care system[5].”
I want you to know that I am a chiropractic advocate. I want chiropractors to practice how they wish. I want the minimal practices to be comfortable and be as stripped down and as effective as they can be. I want the interdisciplinary doctors to do everything they can do to get people well and make a difference in lives. But I want them to do things in a way that is backed by science, that brings us to the center of healthcare rather than the fringes, I want us using terminology and ideas that garner confidence and respect rather than ridicule and scorn, and I want us all to thrive and prosper while we grow our incredible profession.
There will always be an internal feud amongst chiropractors. Likely, some of my close colleagues whom I respect immensely will take offense to what I am saying and to them, I can only say, “I’m sorry, but it’s the way I feel about it and it’s the way I see it.” Thank God we are all different. The same would be boring.
A colleague of mine told me he feels that philosophy and science can live hand in hand. I want to believe that too. I hope it is true. But, what I do know for a fact is that if we do not take this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that opioids and low back pain has presented us, and move toward better integrating ourselves with the medical profession, I fully believe we will have our techniques and treatment stolen from us and we will cease to exist in our current form.
One constant you can always count on in life is change. I hope the inner-professional feuding does not keep change from happening quickly and in the right direction.
Did you know that research and clinical experience shows that, in about 80%-90% of headaches, neck, and back pain, in comparison to the traditional medical model, patients get good or excellent results with Chiropractic? Chiropractic care is safe, more cost-effective, it decreases your chances of having surgery, and it reduces your chances of becoming disabled. We do this conservatively and non-surgically. In addition, we can do it with minimal time requirements and minimal hassle on the part of the patient. And, if the patient develops a “preventative” mindset going forward from initial recovery, we can likely keep it that way while raising the general, overall level of health!
Please feel free to leave a comment and tell me your thoughts. I’d love to hear what you think. And….SHARE, SHARE, SHARE!! We cannot make a difference without your help.
Till next time……
The Amarillo Chiropractor Blog is written by Dr. Jeff Williams.
Amarillo TX Amarillo Pain & Accident Chiropractic Clinic provides customized chiropractic care to the Amarillo TX, Canyon TX, Pampa TX, Happy TX, White Deer TX, Dumas TX, Groom TX, Conway TX, Panhandle TX, Claude TX, Clarendon TX, Borger TX, Tulia, TX, Hereford TX, Fritch TX, Bushland TX, and Vega TX communities.
Visit our main website at www.amarillochiropractor.com for customized Chiropractic in Amarillo TX. Choose several options to schedule your appointment: call (806) 355-3000 or click the button below for our contact info.
by Jeff S. Williams, D.C.
Chiropractors in Amarillo
Spinal Decompression Amarillo
Creek Stone Integrated Care
http://www.amarillochiropractor.com
http://www.creekstonecare.com
References
- Scott NA, Managing low back pain in the primary care setting: the know-do gap. Pain Res Manag, 2010. 15(6): p. 392-400.
- Deyo R, Use of prescription opioids before and after an operation for chronic pain (lumbar fusion surgery). Pain, 2018.
- Evans R, Spinal Manipulation and Exercise for Low Back Pain in Adolescents: A Randomized Trial. Pain, 2018.
- Malfliet A, Effect of Pain Neuroscience Education Combined With Cognition-Targeted Motor Control Training on Chronic Spinal Pain
A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Neurology, 2018. - Innes S, How frequent are non-evidence-based health care beliefs in chiropractic students and do they vary across the pre-professional educational years. Chiropr Man Therap, 2018. 26(8).
Review of The Lancet Article: Low Back Pain: A Call To Action (Part Three)
This week, we’re going to review the last of the three papers from a recent series published in The Lancet on March 21, 2018. If you don’t know the impact or why this series is so important, please review the last two episodes of the Chiropractic Forward Podcast at www.chiropracticforward.com or the last two articles of my blog over at amarillochiropractor.com/blog. That will get you up to speed. In short, the series on low back pain was compiled and authored by an international panel of experts on the matter. Essentially, the best of the best. This series is as up to date, as current, and as reliable as can be had at this point in our understanding of low back pain, so it is worth your time and attention.
This last of the three papers is titled “Low Back Pain: A Call To Action.”
Summary
We have already covered several times that low back pain is now the leading cause of disability globally and is only growing in significance because the global population is living longer. The issue may be more profound in low to middle-income countries. In addition, most low back pain doesn’t even appear to be directly related to any specific trigger or origin. Some of the key areas for improvement for the treatment of low back pain are in health & workplace policies as well as disability benefits and payments. They claim they are wasteful and can certainly stand a re-boot. In many cases, patients are being restricted from attempting resolution of the back pain via conservative approaches such as self-management support, specialized interventions like spinal manipulations (I added that part) and multidisciplinary rehab.
The panel suggests the following:
- Address the political aspect. They recommend calling on the World Health Organization to make low back pain one of its priorities by putting it on the target list in an effort to increase attention and decrease treatment that is not recommended initially. They recommend calling on political, medical, and social leaders to make sure public health initiatives are properly funded and geared toward the prevention of low back pain and treatment.
- Public health challenge.
- Change priorities – Make low back pain a priority. Create and implement ways to prevent it and combine these strategies with other strategies that are chronic and somewhat related. Strategies such as weighing the right amount, being active physically, and maintaining good mental health as well. These tactics treat more than simply low back pain. The panel also recommends strategies that can modify the factors putting the population at risk of developing low back pain.
- Change systems and change practice – Provide early recommendations for maintaining workload as much as possible and/or return to work as quickly as possible. Attempt to ensure early ID of people that are at risk of developing long-term, chronic disability as a result of low back pain. Address co-morbidities raising a person’s risk of developing low back pain and promote a healthier lifestyle in addition to altering disability benefits and get people back to work as soon as possible. And lastly, address low back pain through multidisciplinary rehabilitation in an effort to return the patient to work quickly.
- Healthcare challenge –
- Change culture – The panel appears to me to be promoting the use of a Public Relations campaign to focus and promote living well with low back pain, self-management, staying healthy, and to change the public perception of low back pain.
- Change clinician behavior – The recommendation is to place effort and finances into finding out the best way to change the way clinicians recommend care for low back pain and to fill the evidence/real world gap. After developing the best evidence-based systems, there will be a need to get everyone on the same team in regards to the way clinicians refer and treat, the patients, as well as the professional journals.
- Change systems – There is a need to develop and implement systems allowing a patient to receive the right care at the right time. Clinical pathways will need a reboot and will need to become consistent across interdisciplinary lines and differing clinical settings.
- Tackle Vested Interests – The panel discusses the fact that governments and insurance companies need to regulate in a manner consistent with evidence-based treatment for low back pain and eliminate conflicts of interest. Regulation through contracts, and payment schedules for treatments with little to no evidence for effectiveness.
The idea that a healthy weight and regular physical activity will help reduce low back pain must enter the global subconscious through public programs, especially in low to middle-income countries.
An assertion I fully agree with the authors on is that, thus far, healthcare dollars have been wasted on treatments that are ineffective and, many times, downright dangerous. The risk vs. reward ration just doesn’t make sense more times than not currently. Not to mention the issue of opioid addiction, which we all should know the stats on by now.
Boiling it down, the panel aims to get rid of practices that harm and create waste while, at the same time, opening the door to effective and affordable means of treating low back pain to patients in need. The authors are quoted here as saying,”Protection of the public from unproven or harmful approaches to managing low back pain requires that governments and health-care leaders tackle entrenched and counterproductive reimbursement strategies, vested interests, and financial and professional incentives that maintain the status quo.”
The authors promote the idea of implementing a positive health concept as the umbrella idea aiming for prevention of long-term disability. This includes alternatives to treatments and cures and promoting more meaningful lives.
Another great quote from this third paper is as follows, “Improved training and support of primary care doctors and other professionals engaged in activity and lifestyle facilitation, such as physiotherapists, chiropractors, nurses, and community workers, could minimize the use of unnecessary medical care.”
The panel also calls for an active monitoring system in order to assess and keep an eye on the recommendations and implementation as well as the outcomes of the changes.
To read more for yourself, follow this link to the third paper:
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(18)30488-4/fulltext
If access is unavailable, just simply register at The Lancet. It is completely free of charge.
References:
Paper 1 – “What low back pain is and why we need to pay attention: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(18)30480-X/fulltext
Paper 2 “Prevention and treatment of low back pain: evidence, challenges, and promising directions.”: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(18)30489-6/fulltext
Paper 3 – “Low back pain: a call for action”: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(18)30488-4/fulltext
Did you know that research and clinical experience shows that, in about 80%-90% of headaches, neck, and back pain, in comparison to the traditional medical model, patients get good or excellent results with Chiropractic? Chiropractic care is safe, more cost-effective, it decreases your chances of having surgery, and it reduces your chances of becoming disabled. We do this conservatively and non-surgically. In addition, we can do it with minimal time requirements and minimal hassle on the part of the patient. And, if the patient develops a “preventative” mindset going forward from initial recovery, we can likely keep it that way while raising the general, overall level of health!
Please feel free to leave a comment and tell me your thoughts. I’d love to hear what you think. And….SHARE, SHARE, SHARE!! We cannot make a difference without your help.
Till next time……
The Amarillo Chiropractor Blog is written by Dr. Jeff Williams.
Amarillo TX Amarillo Pain & Accident Chiropractic Clinic provides customized chiropractic care to the Amarillo TX, Canyon TX, Pampa TX, Happy TX, White Deer TX, Dumas TX, Groom TX, Conway TX, Panhandle TX, Claude TX, Clarendon TX, Borger TX, Tulia, TX, Hereford TX, Fritch TX, Bushland TX, and Vega TX communities.
Visit our main website at www.amarillochiropractor.com for customized Chiropractic in Amarillo TX. Choose several options to schedule your appointment: call (806) 355-3000 or click the button below for our contact info.
by Jeff S. Williams, D.C.
Chiropractors in Amarillo
Spinal Decompression Amarillo
Creek Stone Integrated Care
http://www.amarillochiropractor.com
http://www.creekstonecare.com
