For many, seeing and hearing ocean waves is calming. For Plainville back pain and neck pain patients, experiencing the wave of relief from pain can be the same if they understand it. For those who do not realize that pain ebbs and flows while healing, the wave of healing can be upsetting. Layden Chiropractic helps our patients understand the wave of healing, are aware of 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 system 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 (0 no 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 describe their pain using a visual picture scale about their pain intensity and symptomatology over 12 months. The patient responses were quite similar in explaining the pain intensity but not so much for the symptoms and their characteristics. (2) Layden Chiropractic observes that everybody feels pain in somewhat different ways and that they find certain sorts of pain more annoying than others do. All of our Plainville chiropractic patients are distinctive!
THE HEALING “WAVE”
For 12 months, 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 the reason we inform our back and neck pain patients that recovery is more wavelike 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. Layden Chiropractic reminds our Plainville 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 shows the on-going need for them to have partners like their chiropractors along with general practitioners to manage it, understand it, and care for it. One researcher described 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 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 pain relief. (4) Again, pain relief is rarely 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 Layden 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 complicated and yet found relief with The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management with time.
Make your Plainville chiropractic appointment today. Together, we will aim for the calming wave of healing and celebrate the pain relief.
