“Conservative Care First” is more important today than ever in facing our nation’s healthcare challenges

Chiropractic physicians are the highest-rated healthcare practitioners for low-back pain treatments with their patient-centered, whole-person approach that provides greater interaction and communication for appropriate diagnosis and developing more cost-effective treatment planning.

 

October is National Chiropractic Health Month

What Everyone Should Know About Chiropractic

Post by Life in Motion Chiropractic and Wellness, PLLC.

Integrative Care for Headache Pain

Headache has been a bane of humankind for centuries and one of the most common conditions that affects the nervous system. The universally accepted premise is that pain sensitive components of the head and neck are what elicit headache.[1] It is estimated that 47% of adults will experience a headache at least once within the next year.[2]

In 1988, the International Headache Society (IHS) devised a uniform system for classifying headaches which has unequivocally aided headache research. However, the clinical application of this system is limited due to its length, intricate detail, contradictory elements, and lack of real-world observation and data.[3] In fact the World Health Organization admits that many people have their headaches inaccurately diagnosed by their health-care provider.[1] An understandable fact when primary care physicians (PCP) only receive an average of four hours of instruction on headache disorders while in medical school.[1]
This statistic in no way indicates incompetence, just inadequate training with regard to headache. A comprehensible fact given the other more fatal pathologies a PCP must learn about on an intricate level.

This does, however, lead one to theorize that the prescribed drug treatments utilized to combat headache pain may be improperly applied due to the many coinciding aspects of migraine and tension-type [4] headaches. Therefore these analgesics provide no lasting relief to the patient and out of their frustration to feel better easily leads to the development of a medication-overuse headache (MOH).[5]

An integrative approach to headache pain is the most logical way to manage this epidemic given the reasons and biologic elements that contribute to it. According to the research, especially in the case of migraine and tension-type headaches, this may be the most successful strategy to help patients overcome their headache pain.

Since the principal causative factor of headache is spine related, wouldn’t it make sense to have a physician who is specifically trained in spine related disorders be the hub of the diagnostic, management and treatment of headache pain. The doctors at Life in Motion Chiropractic and Wellness are trained Primary Spine Practitioners who can deferentially diagnosis, rule out serious pathology, and provide evidence-based management for the majority of headache patients while also integrating that care with their already established healthcare providers.

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[1] Swenson, Rand and Grunnet-Nilsson, N. 2005. The Management of Headache. In: Haldeman, Scott, et        al, eds. Principles and Practice of Chiropractic. New York: McGraw-Hill, pp. 999-1011

[2] "Headache Disorders." WHO. Ed. WHO Media Center. World Health Organization,
         Oct. 2012. Web. 12 Mar. 2014.

[3] McKenzie, Robin, Stephen May. The Cervical & Thoracic Spine – Mechanical Diagnosis & Therapy.
            Raumati Beach: Spinal Publications New Zealand Ltd, 2006. Print.

[4] Most common type of primary headache. Its mechanism may be stress-related or associated with musculoskeletal problems in the neck. [World Health Organization]

[5] Most common type of secondary headache. [World Health Organization]

Primary Spine Practitioner

The Primary Spine Practitioner (PSP) is, in my humble opinion, the evolution of the chiropractic profession. Over the last 100+ years every field of medicine has striven to make itself better in order to provide individuals seeking treatment the most evidence based care possible within their specialty. The days of the vertebral subluxation complex are over, the chiropractic profession needs to move beyond its 1895 mindset and embrace the concepts developed by the pioneers at Spine Care Partners.

My sincere thanks to Dr. Donald Murphy for his tireless effort in the advancement of our profession via his research and presentation of the facts to those who find chiropractic medicine harmful to the public. Also to doctors, Brian Justice and John Ventura for their community based diligence promoting our profession’s evolutionary change.

I would encourage every chiropractor to embrace this change and move beyond his or her own professional idiosyncrasies because you are in business for only one reason, your patients, and that is what being a PSP is all about!