For many, seeing and hearing ocean waves is calming. For New York City back pain and neck pain patients, feeling the wave of relief from pain can be the same if they are aware of it. For those who do not realize that pain will come and go while healing, the wave of healing can be upsetting. Rosenberg Wellness Center 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 fluctuating symptoms as they heal, 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 reporting 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 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) Rosenberg Wellness Center notices that everybody experiences pain in somewhat different ways and that they find certain sorts of pain more annoying than others do. All of our New York City chiropractic patients are unique!
THE HEALING “WAVE”
For a year, 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 stayed relatively stable. Those who had “episodic pain” – 21% to 24% over the year – had greater changes 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 signal of healing and pain relief. Rosenberg Wellness Center reminds our New York City 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 about the patterns of neck pain and back pain sufferers emphasizes the on-going need for them to have team members like their chiropractors as well as 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 resolution of pain. (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 supported by the 50% Rule of Cox® Technic.
CONTACT Rosenberg Wellness 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 complicated and yet attained relief with The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management over time.
Make your New York City chiropractic appointment now. Together, we will work toward the calming wave of healing and celebrate the pain relief.
