For many, seeing and hearing ocean waves
is calming. For Toronto 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 understand that pain will come and go while healing, the wave of
healing can be upsetting. Yorkville Chiropractic and Wellness Centre helps our
patients understand the wave of healing, recognize 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% with a pain rating of 2.7. “Persistent fluctuating” pain patients
were those disturbed 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 very similar in defining
the pain intensity but not so much for the symptoms and their
characteristics. (2) Yorkville Chiropractic and Wellness Centre 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 Toronto chiropractic patients are unique!
THE HEALING “WAVE”
For a year, another study tracked
1124 neck pain patients who saw a chiropractor. Neck pain patients
experiencing “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 – changed
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 comes and goes.
Going away more than it comes is a positive sign of
healing and pain relief. Yorkville Chiropractic and Wellness Centre reminds our Toronto
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 shows
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 explained
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 pain relief. (4) Again, pain relief is rarely
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 explained by the 50% Rule of Cox®
Technic.
CONTACT Yorkville Chiropractic and Wellness Centre
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 over
time.
Schedule your Toronto chiropractic
appointment soon. Together, we will aim for
the calming wave of healing and celebrate the pain relief.
