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Primary Spine Care, Frozen Shoulder, & Evidence-Based Chiropractic & Cost

December 31, 2020 chiropracticforward Chiropractic, Chiropractic Forward Podcast, Chiropractic Specialization, Chiropractic Standardization, Evidence Based Chiropractic, Evidence-Based Chiropractic, Evidence-based Chiropractor, Shoulder Pain 00:28:54 0 Comments

CF 158: Primary Spine Care, Frozen Shoulder, & Evidence-Based Chiropractic & Cost

Today we’re going to talk about Evidence-Based Chiropractic, We talk about the primary spine care model integrated into a primary care setting. What happens when that’s the mode of treatment? Then we’re going to talk about some Frozen Shoulder (adhesive capsulitis) research in JAMA recently.   But first, here’s that sweet sweet bumper music  

Chiropractic evidence-based products

Integrating Chiropractors

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OK, we are back and you have found the Chiropractic Forward Podcast where we are making evidence-based chiropractic fun, profitable, and accessible while we make you and your patients better all the way around.  We’re the fun kind of research. Not the stuffy, high-brow kind of research. We’re research talk over a couple of beers. I’m Dr. Jeff Williams and I’m your host for the Chiropractic Forward podcast.   If you haven’t yet I have a few things you should do. 

  • Like our Facebook page, 
  • Join our private Facebook group and interact, and then 
  • go review our podcast on iTunes and other podcast platforms. 
  • We also have an evidence-based brochure and poster store at chiropracticforward.com
  • While you’re there, join our weekly email newsletter. 

You have found yourself smack dab in the middle of Episode #158 Now if you missed last week’s episode, we talked about chiropractors that spread misinformation, we talked about patients needing movement, and we talked about love. I’m a softy at heart believe it or not. Make sure you don’t miss that info. Keep up with the class. Evidence-Based Chiropractic is catching on!

On the personal end of things….. We are sitting here on a Monday 12/21 as of the typing up of this episode. Christmas is upon us. Nothing crazy special going on beyond that.  There are a couple of things I’ll mention. The first is that I got the Mirror gym you hang on a wall. It’s basically like having a trainer in your living room. Lots of you are already used to this sort of a deal with products like Peloton but it’s new to me and it’s pretty awesome. I’m doing stuff like Tai Chi, yoga, boxing, kickboxing, and stuff like that.

Stuff I’d never do otherwise and it’s pretty darn cool.  We turned what used to basically be a dog room into a small gym and it’s been pretty cool so far. I’m enjoying it. I’ve always been a skinny dude stuck in a big dude’s body. So, now that I’m down 33 lbs on weight watchers, and I’ve added the home gym to the mix, I feel like I’m on the way to realizing the skinny dude. Eventually. Lots of work left to do first though. 

Secondly, I’m getting the vaccine in a day or two if everything works out. I have mentioned several times on the podcast that I have very positive relationships with a lot of folks in my local medical community. Through that network, my wife and I will be getting ours this week. I’m ready to get that dude and start moving on with life. 

No, I’m not worried about it. Understanding I have some level of influence and some level of leadership with my friends, family, and patients, I feel it’s important to get out front and set an example on this deal.  Especially being a chiropractor. When you see so many of us disenfranchised because of the vitalists in our profession out there preaching the harms of vaccines when they wouldn’t know how to make it through a research paper on the vaccine to save their lives…..well, wouldn’t it be refreshing to see evidence-based chiropractors stepping up and leading the way on this vaccine? Here’s my stance on it. Maybe it helps you if you’re on the fence. Maybe it doesn’t but here it is anyway.  I’m not an epidemiologist or a maker of vaccines. I have researched masks, COVID, the transmission of Covid, and things like that. Not as much on the vaccine on the vaccine itself though. 

Scientists understand so much more about that sort of research than I’ll ever know. A Fox Poll says 61% of Americans will get the shots while only 23% are strictly against taking it. There were 16% unsure. Probably the ones waiting to see if everyone does OK with it before they step up. And I don’t think that’s unreasonable.  The point is, those getting it like me…..I’m not the minority on it. For me, it’s not only about life or death. I have a 20-something-year-old patient that can’t go back to work because she’s still positive 6 weeks later. I know a nurse that was positive for over nine weeks. I know Patients that had to go to physical therapy for weeks. Long haulers is a real deal. In the end, it’s an easy decision for me. I’m not worried at all really.

There’s risk crossing the road. If I get sick, I have to close my office for at least 2 weeks if not more. That means I lose a lot of money, there will be patients drop off of the schedule, we’ll miss new patients, and I’ll be sick AND anxious the entire time. If COVID doesn’t make me nauseous, the destruction of my business while I’m out sick will.  Besides myself, I have 13 or so other employees and their families depending on my presence. My business depends on my presence and does not run when I’m not there. That’s a little different than a lot of other folks. I’m not doing that if I can prevent it. If a vaccine allows me to prevent it, well then, a vaccine it is.

We chiropractors work within inches of people’s faces and in close contact with them. That puts us at more risk than the average Joe and, if we have it, puts our patients at serious risk of getting it from us.  If you’re like me, we work with a lot of elderly and immunocompromised patients. I’m not willing to put them at risk like that when all I had to do was trust in science and just get the damn vaccine. They ran human trials on 35000-45000 or so people with no unacceptable issues. That’s a huge sample size. I’ve seen this thought on the FTCA group before. It’s probably a Bobby Maybee special quote but, back before Facebook, people would have just taken the vaccine.

They weren’t worried about this stuff back before Facebook told them to worry about it.  No matter what’s out there these days, you have people casting doubt on it for zero reasons. Maybe it’s a call for attention at all costs. Who knows? But it’s to the point now where science and experts are constantly doubted and discounted. And that’s about as dumb and dangerous as can be.  It was OK to cure smallpox and polio but COVID……nah bruh.

If there were real questions, would basically the entire medical complex be in line taking it? My guess is that they wouldn’t.  What if someone can afford to be out of work or out of their office for 2-4-6 weeks and they want to wait to get it? I think it’s reasonable if someone wants to wait to see if anyone has adverse effects before they take it. I don’t think that’s unreasonable at all. But I think that it’s just delaying the fact that almost everyone is going to do fine with it and most people are going to end up getting it.

They started it in England two weeks ago. Nothing has happened. Because they already did the test trials to make sure nothing would happen. Considering the success of the testing, I think the people not getting it are at far more risk than the people that are getting it. Besides all that, I’m ready to get back in my life. Traveling, doing fun stuff, having a life…..important stuff. Like seeing my mom and step pops and being able to visit my dad in the nursing home for the first time since March.

More power to those that have been doing those things all along but for the above-mentioned reasons, we have not.

So that’s where I’m at. We are all on our own walk and we all need to do what we think is best. Staying healthy, staying open and available, and continuing to provide for my family, my staff, and my patients are what I think is best.  So, I’m out front on this. It’ll be good for my patients and family to see a picture of me getting my vaccine on social media. It’ll be good for my patients to see it.

And it’ll be good for those in the medical community that is friends with me to see it. It’ll reaffirm that no….I’m not one of THOSE chiropractors.  I encourage you to be out front with it if you get one. Be a leader and blaze the trail.  And Merry Christmas, Dammit. 

Item #1 The first one today is called “Implementation of the Primary Spine Care Model in a Multi-Clinician Primary Care Setting: An Observational Cohort Study” by Whedon, et. al. (Whedon JM 2020) and published in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics on September 1, of 2020. And that’s a blistering blast of hotness.  If you don’t recognize the Whedon name, he is very prolific in chiropractic research. 

Why They Did It

The objective of this investigation was to compare the value of primary spine care with usual care for the management of patients with spine-related disorders within a primary care setting.

How They Did It

  • They retrospectively examined existing patient encounter data at 3 primary care sites within a multi-clinic health system
  • Designated clinicians serve in the role as primary spinal care as the initial point of contact for spine patients, they coordinated the care, and they followed up for the duration of the episode of care
  • A primary spinal care doctor may be a chiropractor, PT, or medical or osteopathic physician trained in primary spinal care for spine-related disorders
  • They had sites where the primary spinal care was implemented as well as control sites where they just stuck with the usual care model
  • They examined clinical encounters occurring over a 2 year period from February 2016 to March 2018. 

What They Found

  • Primary spine care was associated with reduced total expenditures compared with usual care for spine-related disorders
  • At site one, the average per-patient cost was $162 in a year and $186 in year two. 
  • That is compared to site II, a control site, where the cost in year one was $332 and $306 in year two. And in site three, also a control site offering only usual care, where the cost in year one was $467 and year two was $323

Wrap It Up

Among patients with SRDs included in this study, implementation of the PSC model within a conventional primary care setting was associated with a trend toward reduced total expenditures for spine care compared with usual primary care. Implementation of PSC may lead to reduced costs and resource utilization but may be no more effective than usual care regarding clinical outcomes.

CHIROUP ADVERTISEMENT

Item #2

Our second item today is called “Comparison of Treatments for Frozen Shoulder: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis” by Challoumas, et. al. (Challoumas D 2020) and published in JAMA Open on December 16, of 2020 and it does not get one degree hotter than that people!

Why They Did It

The authors here wanted to know the answer to the question, “Are any treatment modalities for frozen shoulder associated with better outcomes than other treatments?”

How They Did It

  • It was a meta-analysis of 65 studies with 4097 participants
  • They searched Medline, EMBASE, Scopus, and CINHAL in February 2020.
  • Studies with a randomized design of any type that compared treatment modalities for frozen shoulder with other modalities, placebo, or no treatment were included.
  • Data were independently extracted by 2 individuals
  • Pain and function were the primary outcomes, and external rotation range of movement (ER ROM) was the secondary outcome
  • Length of follow-up was divided into short-term (≤12 weeks), mid-term (>12 weeks to ≤12 months), and long-term (>12 months) follow-up.

What They Found

  • Despite several statistically significant results, only the administration of intra-articular (IA) corticosteroid was associated with statistical and clinical superiority compared with other interventions in the short-term for pain
  • Subgroup analyses and the network meta-analysis demonstrated that the addition of a home exercise program with simple exercises and stretches and physiotherapy (electrotherapy and/or mobilizations) to the intra-articular corticosteroid may be associated with added benefits in the mid-term

Wrap It Up

The findings of this study suggest that the early use of intra-articular corticosteroid in patients with frozen shoulder of less than 1-year duration is associated with better outcomes. This treatment should be accompanied by a home exercise program to maximize the chance of recovery.

Item #3

Now, on to Evidence-Based Chiropractic. Our third and final one this week is called “Cost comparison of two approaches to chiropractic care for patients with acute and sub-acute low Back pain care episodes: a cohort study” by Whedon et. al. (Whedon JM 2020) and published in the Chiropractic and Manual Therapies on December 14, 2020. Get your red hots right here, get ‘em hot right here.  I told you Whedon was prolific. That’s two papers in this one episode that he’s the lead author on and I did not do that on purpose. I didn’t realize who the authors of the papers were until I started typing. He’s on his A-game. 

Why They Did It

The abstract for our Evidence-Based Chiropractic talk leads off by saying, “Low back pain (LBP) imposes a costly burden upon patients, healthcare insurers, and society overall. Spinal manipulation as practiced by chiropractors has been found to be cost-effective for the treatment of LBP, but there is wide variation among chiropractors in their approach to clinical care, and the most cost-effective approach to chiropractic care is uncertain. To date, little has been published regarding the cost-effectiveness of different approaches to chiropractic care. Thus, the current study presents a cost comparison between chiropractic approaches for patients with acute or subacute care episodes for low back pain.” How They Did It

  • It was a retrospective cohort design to examine the costs of chiropractic care among patients diagnosed with acute or subacute low back pain.
  • The study time period ranged between 07/01/2016 and 12/22/2017
  • They compared cost outcomes for patients of two cohorts of chiropractors within the health care system: Cohort 1) a general network of providers, and Cohort 2) a network providing conservative evidence-based care for rapid resolution of pain.
  • They used generalized linear regression modeling to estimate the comparative influence of demographic and clinical factors on expenditures.
  • A total of 25,621 unique patients were included in the analyses

What They Found

  • The average cost per patient for Cohort 2 (mean allowed amount $252) was lower compared to Cohort 1 (mean allowed amount $326
  • Patient and clinician related factors such as health plan, provider region, and sex also significantly influenced costs.

Wrap It Up In general, providers in Cohort 2 were found to be significantly associated with lower costs for patient care as compared to Cohort 1. Utilization of a clinical model characterized by a patient-centered clinic approach and standardized, best-practice clinical protocols may offer lower cost when compared to non-standardized clinical approaches to chiropractic care.

So….just who the hell do you all know that’s been preaching this until his face is about to explode? That’s right, listeners of this podcast. One word, two syllables…..Day-um.  Evidence-based and patient-centered care is the future of chiropractic. It is first and foremost, treating our patients with respect and the best care and that’s what they deserve.  Secondly, it’s speaking the language of the medical community. Which is the language of research. When you’re using their language, you’re starting to communicate more effectively.  I think it’s time for superhero sound effects….boom, pow, snap, kawachow!

Alright, that’s it. Y’all be safe. Keep changing our profession from your little corner of the world. Keep taking care of yourselves and everyone around you. Tough times are upon us but, the sun will shine again. Trust it, believe it, count on it. Let’s get to the message. Same as it is every week. 

Store Remember the evidence-informed brochures and posters at chiropracticforward.com. 

Chiropractic evidence-based products

Integrating Chiropractors

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The Message I want you to know with absolute certainty that when Chiropractic is at its best, you can’t beat the risk vs reward ratio because spinal pain is primarily a movement-related pain and typically responds better to movement-related treatment rather than chemical treatments like pills and shots. When compared to the traditional medical model, research and clinical experience show us patients can get good to excellent results for headaches, neck pain, back pain, and joint pain to name just a few. It’s safe and cost-effective can decrease surgeries & disability and we do it through conservative, non-surgical means with minimal hassle to the patient. And, if the patient treats preventatively after initial recovery, we can usually keep it that way while raising the overall level of health!

Key Point:

At the end of the day, patients should have the guarantee of having the best treatment that offers the least harm. When it comes to non-complicated musculoskeletal complaints…. That’s Chiropractic!

Contact Send us an email at dr dot williams at chiropracticforward.com and let us know what you think of our show and tell us your suggestions for future episodes.  Feedback and constructive criticism is a blessing and so are subscribes and excellent reviews on podcast platforms.  We know how this works by now. If you value something, you have to share it, interact with it, review it, talk about it from time to time, and actively hit a few buttons to support it here and there when asked. It really does make a big difference. 

Connect We can’t wait to connect with you again next week. From the Chiropractic Forward Podcast flight deck, this is Dr. Jeff Williams saying upward, onward, and forward. Website https://www.chiropracticforward.com

Social Media Links https://www.facebook.com/chiropracticforward/

Chiropractic Forward Podcast Facebook GROUP https://www.facebook.com/groups/1938461399501889/

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TuneIn https://tunein.com/podcasts/Health–Wellness-Podcasts/The-Chiropractic-Forward-Podcast-Chiropractors-Pr-p1089415/

About the Author & Host Dr. Jeff Williams – Fellow of the International Academy of Neuromusculoskeletal Medicine – Chiropractor in Amarillo, TX, Chiropractic Advocate, Author, Entrepreneur, Educator, Businessman, Marketer, and Healthcare Blogger & Vlogger  

Bibliography

  • Challoumas D, B. M., McLean M, (2020). “Comparison Of Treatments For Frozen Shoulder: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.” JAMA Open 3(12): e2029581.
  • Whedon JM, B. S., Dennis P, Fischer VA, Russel R, (2020). “Cost comparison of two approaches to chiropractic care for patients with acute and sub-acute low Back pain care episodes: a cohort study.” Chiropr Man Therap 28(68).
  • Whedon JM, T. A., Bezdijan S, (2020). “Implementation of the Primary Spine Care Model in a Multi-Clinician Primary Care Setting: An Observational Cohort Study.” J Man Physiol Ther 43(7): P667-674.

 

Evidence-based Chiropractic Podcast

Getting Patients Returning, Shoulder Impingement, Cervical Manipulation, & X-rays and Neurodegenerative Disease

July 9, 2020 chiropracticforward Cervical Manipulation, Imaging, Shoulder Pain 00:26:54 0 Comments

CF 133: Getting Patients Returning, Shoulder Impingement, Cervical Manipulation, & X-rays and Neurodegenerative Disease Today we’re going to talk about getting your patients back in your office, we’ll talk about shoulder impingement, cervical manipulation research, and we’ll talk about low dose x-rays being the cause of neurodegenerative disease.  But first, here’s that sweet sweet bumper music  

Chiropractic evidence-based products

Integrating Chiropractors

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  OK, we are back and you have found the Chiropractic Forward Podcast where we are making evidence-based chiropractic fun, profitable, and accessible while we make you and your patients better all the way around.  We’re the fun kind of research. Not the stuffy, high-brow kind of research. We’re research talk over a couple of beers. I’m Dr. Jeff Williams and I’m your host for the Chiropractic Forward podcast.   If you haven’t yet I have a few things you should do. 

  • Like our Facebook page, 
  • Join our private Facebook group and interact, and then 
  • go review our podcast on iTunes and other podcast platforms. 
  • We also have an evidence-based brochure and poster store at chiropracticforward.com
  • While you’re there, join our weekly email newsletter. No spam, just a reminder when the newest episodes go live. Nothing special so don’t worry about signing up. Just one a week friends. Check your JUNK folder!!

Do it do it do it.  You have found yourself smack dab in the middle of Episode #133 Now if you missed last week’s episode, we talked about giving, we talked about maintenance care, dry needling, and we also talked about vitalism.

Make sure you don’t miss that info. Keep up with the class. 

While we’re on the topic of being smart, did you know that you can use our website as a resource? Quick and easy, you can go to chiropracticforward.com, click on Episodes, and use the search function to find whatever you want quickly and easily. With over 100 episodes in the tank and an average of 2-3 papers covered per episode, we have somewhere between 250 and 300 papers that can be quickly referenced along with their talking points. 

Just so you know, all of the research we talk about in each episode is cited in the show notes for each episode if you’re looking to dive in a little deeper. 

 

On the personal end of things….. The last two episodes have had a talk about vitalism and all of that. I got red in the face and gripey and some would even say…..disagreeable.  None of that this week. Fun and positivity. I made the mistake of going back to recording the personal part of the podcast….this part of the podcast….two weeks in advance. Well, it bit me in the butt an episode or two back. I should know by now that that damn COVID’s going to change the program. Lol. I said it was looking good and numbers were great and by the time we get to air time, 2 weeks down the road, the roadmap was different and crap was firing up everywhere again.

It sounded silly for it to be firing up everywhere and there I am on a fresh episode talking about how good it’s looking. Lol. So…..I’m not going to mention anything like that again.  Besides, you guys are probably not in the mood to hear more about it anyway. Instead, I’ll tell you that I’m at about 81% of where I want to be. The least I want to see per week is about 180 appointments. Each week. 13 – 15 new patients per week. That’s the LEAST I want to see.  As of this recording, last week I saw 146 and 15 patients.

So, I’m not at 180 yet but I’m more comfortable with my new patient count. Let’s keep that rocking and the other numbers should take care of itself sooner than later. It’s a Monday afternoon and I have 120 on the books. That’s before Wednesday gets booked up, Thursday, and Friday. So, starting a Monday with 120 already booked for the week, that tells me we have a good chance at a continued recovery.  What are your numbers looking like? Is your practice starting to get back to normal and stabilize?

What are you doing to make sure your business survives this mess? I want to hear about it so I can share it with our audience. If you’ll share with us on the Facebook page, in the Facebook group, or by sending me an email at [email protected]…..I’ll make sure and share with the rest of our listeners. This can be an excellent way to help others that are struggling right now.  Last week I talked about giving. Well, this is a great way to give back to your profession and colleagues that may not be doing as well as we are.  I’ll start.  I doubled down on Social Media Instead of one post a day, we went to 3 per day and 4 per day on the weekends.  We went from just talking about chiropractic to fun posts with a little bit of chiropractic here and there.

About every 4th or 5th post.

We want to entertain. I don’t know that anyone wants to be sold anything right now but, I don’t personally mind commercials or being interrupted if I’m simultaneously being entertained. So that’s what we did. We started entertaining our crowd We asked for people to help us by inviting their friends to our page. And they did! We hit numbers that would have taken us 3 years to build. We hit them in only about 4 days. I was amazed. Just because we asked and, it seems that at this time, more people are willing to help others.  Of course, that’s if they’re not bitching at each other about masks.  I got back to my weekly emails to my patients.

I had fallen off to emailing only once every 3-4 weeks. Now I’m back on a weekly schedule.  I revamped my To-Do list to include everything thing that I need to accomplish every day so I don’t forget or let things lapse. I want to stay on point with getting our message out every day, every week, every month.  I decided to try a professional company for Facebook ads. We still have a lot of really mixed results on that sucker right now so I haven’t talked much about it but I’ll let you know how we do down the road. 

In the meantime, as if I needed something else to occupy my time, I started a voice-over career on the side. Lol. To go along with my sculpting, drawing, and art career. To go along with my furniture building career. Which will go along nicely with my singer/songwriter/guitar-playing career?  Geez….is that the very definition of A.D.D. or what? But yeah, if you need any commercials voiced for you, holler at me. I’m happy to help. 

Back to the office, I got back to doing weekly YouTube videos. Every week like clockwork. That made me get back to writing my own weekly blog. That’s work I used to hire out to a guy in South Africa but I took it back over for a bit and it’s been fun actually.  So, as you can see, I’ve made A LOT of changes to get back on track and get this sucker not just where it was this time last year, but 10% or bigger. Why the hell not? Overall, I have made it a point to highlight what we are doing to help keep them as safe as we can. If COVID is the barrier, then we need to do everything we can to remove that barrier. 

Alright, as I said, you guys and gals send me your suggestions of things you are doing to get your patients back in your clinic. 

Item #1 This first one this week is called ‘Relationship between shoulder impingement syndrome and thoracic posture’ by Hunter et. al.(Hunter D 2020) and published in Physical Therapy journal in April of 2020 and that means that that is one hot son of a mother!!

Why They Did It They say that shoulder impingement is the most common form of shoulder pain and a persistent musculoskeletal problem and that we have had limited success in treating it. They wanted to test whether or not thoracic posture has anything to do with it. 

How They Did It

  • This was a case-control study. 
  • Thoracic posture of 39 participants with shoulder impingement was measure using the modified Cobb angle from a lateral x-ray. 
  • They accounted for age, gender, and dominant arm
  • T-sp range of motion was measured with an inclinometer

What They Found

  • Individuals with shoulder impingement had greater thoracic kyphosis and less active thoracic extension
  • Greater thoracic kyphosis was associated with less extension ROM

Wrap It Up “Individuals with shoulder impingement had a greater thoracic kyphosis and less extension ROM than age- and gender-matched healthy controls. These results suggest that clinicians could consider addressing the thoracic spine in patients with shoulder impingement.”

Item #2 Item #2 this week is called “The Effect of High Velocity Low Amplitude Cervical Manipulations on the Musculoskeletal System: Literature Review” by Giacalone et. al.(Giacalone 2020) published in Cureus in April of 2020 which makes it too hot to handle for me!

Why They Did It They say that cervical manipulative techniques are mostly used for the treatment of biomechanical joint dysfunction, but little is known about possibly using them in order to achieve better performance on a healthy subject

How They Did It

  • A systematic search was carried out on the Pubmed electronic database from the beginning of January to March 2020.
  • Two independent reviewers conducted the screening process through the PRISMA diagram to determine the eligibility of the articles.
  • The inclusion criteria covered randomized controlled trial (RCT) manuscripts published in peer-reviewed journals with individuals of all ages from 2005 to 2020.
  • The included intervention was thrust manipulation or HVLA directed towards the cervical spine region. 
  • After reviewing the literature, 21 of 74 articles were considered useful and relevant to the research question.

What They Found

  • HVLA techniques, on subjects with musculoskeletal disorders, are able to influence pain modulation, mobility, and strength both in the treated area and at a distance.
  • Cervical manipulations are effective in the management of cervicalgia, epicondylalgia, temporomandibular joint disorders, and shoulder pain.
  • With regard to results on strength in healthy subjects, given the divergent opinions of the authors, we cannot yet state that manipulation can significantly influence this parameter.

Item #3 Our last one is called ‘Low-dose x-ray imaging may increase the risk of neurodegenerative diseases’ by Caroline Rodgers(Rodgers C 2020) and published in Medical Hypotheses in April of 2020…..look at April…..not just bringing us COVID…but also bringing us a bunch of plates of steamy hot stuff. 

As the journal says, this is a hypothesis. The hypothesis presented in this paper explores the possibility that X-ray imaging commonly used in dental practices may be a shared risk factor for sporadic dementias and motor-neuron diseases. As the evidence will suggest, the brain is ill-equipped to manage the intrusion of low-dose ionizing radiation (IR) beyond that which is naturally occurring.

When the brain’s antioxidant defenses are overwhelmed by IR, it produces an abundance of reactive oxygen species (ROS) that can lead to oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, loss of synaptic plasticity, altered neuronal structure and microvascular impairment that have been identified as early signs of neurodegeneration in Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, vascular dementia and other diseases that progressively damage the brain and central nervous system.

Common assumptions regarding the risks of low-dose IR will be addressed, such as 1) comparing rapid, repeated bursts of man-made IR sent exclusively into the head to equivalent amounts of head-to-toe background IR over longer periods of time; 2) whether epidemiological studies that dismiss concerns regarding low-dose IR due to lack of evidence it causes cancer, heritable mutations or shortened life spans also apply to neurodegeneration; and 3) why even radiation-resistant neurons can be severely impacted by IR exposure, due to IR-induced injury to the processes they need to function. 

If X-ray imaging is found to be associated with neurodegeneration, the risk-versus-benefit must be reevaluated, every means of reducing exposure implemented and imaging protocols revised. So…..we here at Chiropractic Forward will be following along here. Because if this turns out to confirm that radiation causes neurodegenerative disease, you know what that means for the chiropractors shooting x-rays on each and every patient and then doing several follow up x-rays on them?  They won’t be happy campers. But, maybe they’ll start following more guidelines that say no x-rays outside of red flags. I’ve said several times that I’m not against chiropractors that shoot initial x-rays. I’m really not.

Some are just more comfortable working on people when they’ve seen what they can see.  My issue is using the initial x-rays as a scare tactic and communicating in a catastrophic way to achieve a long treatment schedule out the patient. One they likely don’t need at all.  My other issue would be repeating x-rays several times through treatment.

That’s not evidence-based and the patient doesn’t need them. 

Alright, that’s it. Y’all be safe. Continue taking care of yourselves and taking care of your neighbors. Tough times are upon us but, the sun will shine again. Trust it, believe it, count on it. Let’s get to the message. Same as it is every week. 

Store Remember the evidence-informed brochures and posters at chiropracticforward.com. 

Chiropractic evidence-based products

Integrating Chiropractors

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The Message I want you to know with absolute certainty that when Chiropractic is at its best, you can’t beat the risk vs reward ratio because spinal pain is primarily a movement-related pain and typically responds better to movement-related treatment rather than chemical treatments like pills and shots. When compared to the traditional medical model, research and clinical experience show us patients can get good to excellent results for headaches, neck pain, back pain, and joint pain to name just a few. It’s safe and cost-effective can decrease surgeries & disability and we do it through conservative, non-surgical means with minimal hassle to the patient. And, if the patient treats preventativly after initial recovery, we can usually keep it that way while raising the overall level of health!

Key Point: At the end of the day, patients should have the guarantee of having the best treatment that offers the least harm. When it comes to non-complicated musculoskeletal complaints…. That’s Chiropractic!

Contact Send us an email at dr dot williams at chiropracticforward.com and let us know what you think of our show and tell us your suggestions for future episodes.  Feedback and constructive criticism is a blessing and so are subscribes and excellent reviews on podcast platforms.  We know how this works by now. If you value something, you have to share it, interact with it, review it, talk about it from time to time, and actively hit a few buttons to support it here and there when asked. It really does make a big difference. 

Connect We can’t wait to connect with you again next week. From the Chiropractic Forward Podcast flight deck, this is Dr. Jeff Williams saying upward, onward, and forward.

Website https://www.chiropracticforward.com

Social Media Links https://www.facebook.com/chiropracticforward/

Chiropractic Forward Podcast Facebook GROUP https://www.facebook.com/groups/1938461399501889/

Twitter https://twitter.com/Chiro_Forward

YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtc-IrhlK19hWlhaOGld76Q

iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/chiropractic-forward-podcast-chiropractors-practicing/id1331554445?mt=2

Player FM Link https://player.fm/series/2291021

Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-chiropractic-forward-podcast-chiropractors-practicing-through

TuneIn https://tunein.com/podcasts/Health–Wellness-Podcasts/The-Chiropractic-Forward-Podcast-Chiropractors-Pr-p1089415/

About the Author & Host Dr. Jeff Williams – Chiropractor in Amarillo, TX, Chiropractic Advocate, Author, Entrepreneur, Educator, Businessman, Marketer, and Healthcare Blogger & Vlogger

Bibliography Giacalone A, F. M., Magnifica F, Ruberti E, (2020). “The Effect of High Velocity Low Amplitude Cervical Manipulations on the Musculoskeletal System: Literature Review.” Cureus 12(4): e7682. Hunter D, R. D., McKeirnan S, (2020). “Relationship Between Shoulder Impingement Syndrome and Thoracic Posture.” Phys Ther 100(4): 677-686. Rodgers C (2020). “Low-dose X-ray Imaging May Increase the Risk of Neurodegenerative Diseases.” Med Hypotheses 142(109726).

carpal tunnel

Government-Regulated Rehab, Do Rotator Cuffs Need Repair, Carpal Tunnel

February 28, 2019 chiropracticforward Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, Chiropractic, Chiropractic Preventative Care, Chiropractic Research, Chiropractic Standardization, Evidence Based Chiropractic, Evidence-based Chiropractor, Health & Wellness, Shoulder Pain 00:19:48 0 Comments

Government-Regulated Rehab, Do Rotator Cuffs Need Repair, Carpal Tunnel

Today we’re going to reach into my bag of papers that have been sitting and gathering a little dust waiting for their time in the sun. We’re talking about government-regulated rehab. Is it any more effective than doctor-regulated? Do you send rotator cuff issues straight to a surgeon and is that the smartest thing? We’ll also skim over some new info on carpal tunnel syndrome. 

But first, here’s that “goes down so smooth” bumper music.

Chiropractic evidence-based productsIntegrating Chiropractors

OK, we are back. Welcome to the podcast today, I’m Dr. Jeff Williams and I’m your host for the Chiropractic Forward podcast.  

You have Frankenstein-shuffled into Episode #63 all creepy like

Introduction

Why does this podcast even exist? We’re here to advocate for chiropractic and to give you some awesome information to make your life easier from day-to-day. We’re going to keep you from wasting time through your week by giving you confidence in your recommendations and in your treatments. 

This is something I feel confident in guaranteeing you if you listen and stick to it here at the Chiropractic Forward Podcast.  I’m no guru but I do believe I was blessed with some amount of common sense that somehow continues to keep me in the game. You are ABSOLUTELY going to pick up some nuggets that you can use in your own practice. 

Evidence-based Chiropractic Store

Part of saving you time and effort is having the right patient education tools in your office. Tools that educate based on solid, researched information. We offer you that. It’s done for you. We are taking pre-orders right now for our brand new, evidence-based office brochures available at chiropracticforward.com. My goal is to get enough pre-orders to pay for all of the initial order before the end of March. If you guys will go to chiropracticforward.com…..Just click the STORE link at the top right of the home page and you’ll be off and running. 

https://www.chiropracticforward.com/shop/

We can order any of the posters whenever but, I want to get pre-orders in place for the brochures since they have to be ordered in bulk. With pre-orders helping me do that, I can get them ordered at the end of March, get them to me in about a week and then get them to you in a week so, they’d be in your hands roughly mid-April. So, if you’re team Chiropractic Forward, go check them out and order up. I’ll make it happen for us all. 

I’m getting them for my office as well ya see. I can’t wait to get them. And, I have a ton more I’m working on. But, I’ll be using funds from the first batch, to fund the next batch of these brochures. Rome wasn’t built in a day, folks, cut me some damn slack. Help me out with the first batch and we’ll be up and running. Who knows what we can get done around here together?

DACO

DACO talk, hell yeah. I’m back to rocking and rolling thanks to the guys down under in Australia. They are very intuitive and really do go out of their way to make sure you’re enjoying the courses and getting what you can out of them. 

Recent courses for me have been Acute Torticollis in the Adult and Osteoporotic Compression fractures – Recognizing the Clues. 

I dreaded stepping into the whole idea of 300 hours added to an already full load of work, family, and hobbies. Honestly, I’ve said before, I see 60-70 new patients a month, wife and two kids, I build live edge furniture, I’m a musician many weekends, and a sculptor who’s trying to teach himself to paint and…well…I like to get ornery and have a beer here and there on the weekends too. (you need to grow up)

I don’t say that to brag and say Oh look at me look at me. I’m trying to make the point that, if I can do it, you can do it.

Here’s the deal, I was always learning and adding and reading research papers and all of that stuff anyway. I thought I’d take one live class and get some continuing education hours. Hell, I figured I’d sit in the class for a couple of hours and then go have lunch with my wife. 

Yeah, that didn’t happen. In fact, I’m blaming it all on Dr. Tim Bertlesmen for getting me into it. He and Dr. Brandon Steele are the partners in ChiroUp and he was teaching a class here for the Texas Chiropractic Association’s state convention last summer. I saw him in the expo hall and he told me to come check the class out.

I said I’ll check it out for a bit. He said, “You’ll like it. You’ll stay for the whole thing.” Dammit if he wasn’t right. Lol. Just amazing information that could be used immediately and I literally feel that way about every class I’ve had since then.

So, you see, it hasn’t been stressful. It hasn’t really been any work. It’s just been enjoyable learning that I would have been doing anyway. I might as well get something out of what I was already doing anyway, right?

When the hell do I have time to add 300 hours to my plate? Well, I take off about 2:30 on Tuesday afternoon to do a class. I usually take one on Saturday morning when I’m up before the rest of the family. Sometimes I’ll take another on Sunday. That puts me at about 9 hours a week.

Easy peesy. 

If I can get you started, email me at dr. williams @chiropractic forward.com

Personal Happenings

In personal happenings, it’s been a little crazy around here as you all might can gather if you follow along. If you remember we had a front desk issue back in August and just couldn’t get the position filled. Well, my amazing wife stepped in, got trained on insurance, billing, and all of that lovely mess of crap. She is literally the smartest person I’ve ever met in my life. Some may question her decision to marry me and her intelligence in making that decision but, I think she’s freaking Einstein basically. 

Anyway, that has turned into us getting to work at 8 am and now, because she’s a perfectionist and still maintains her work responsibilities from her other job….which she does from home….we’re literally here until about 8 pm every night and I’m just about done with that people. Being busy is a good problem to have but there is a point where it’s just too much. 

I think a nurse practitioner can take some of the load off and I think maybe bringing in a new young hungry associate would be really nice. But, while I can talk about evidence and research, I’m afraid I’m not particularly skilled at hiring associates or setting up a medical entity but, that’s the direction I’m moving in because this workload is not sustainable for me to have a happy life. It’s just not. Example: on Wednesday of last week, in one day, as a solo practitioner, we had 12 new patients. Now, 6 were just intakes from one car wreck and it went efficiently but, you get the point. 

While it is do-able, for me, it’s not necessarily desirable to have the stress of being piled up on. I’m more like 3 or 4 new patients per day spread evenly throughout the week with some periodic re-exams and a bunch of happy patients just getting better and better every time I see them. THAT’S my idea of a happy workday. That’s not what we have right now. Lol. Good problem to have, admittedly but, still stressful. 

We’re hiring right now to help take some load off of the wife and, before long, I’ll be turning my attention to integrating. You know I’ll be sharing my experience as we go through it all. 

Item #1: Government-regulated Rehab

This first item we’re going to talk about is titled “Is a government-regulated rehabilitation guideline more effective than general practitioner education or preferred-provider rehabilitation in promoting recovery from acute whiplash-associated disorders? A pragmatic randomised controlled trial(Cote P 2019)” written by Pierre Cote, Eleanor Boyle, Heather Shearer, and a plethora of others. It was published in the British Medical Journal Open in 2019 and is cited in our show notes for episode 63. 

Why They Did It

They wanted to evaluate the effectiveness of a government-regulated guidelines line when comparing it to education and activation by general practitioners and to a preferred-provider insurance-based rehab program on self-reported global recovery from acute whiplash-associated disorders Grades 1-2. 

As mentioned in the title of the paper, it was a pragmatic randomized controlled trial. 

What They Found

Here’s what they decided, “Time-to-recovery did not significantly differ across intervention groups. We found no differences between groups with regard to neck-specific outcomes, depression and health-related quality of life.”

Item #2: Rotator Cuffs & Need For Repair

This one is called “What happens to patients when we do not repair their cuff tears? Five-year rotator cuff quality-of-life index outcomes following nonoperative treatment of patients with full-thickness rotator cuff tears(Boorman RS 2018).” Twas written by RS Boorman, KD More, RM Hollinshead, and a gaggle of others. Published in Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery in March of 2018. 

Why They Did It

They wanted to look at the 5-year outcomes in patients enrolled in a nonoperative rotator cuff tear treatment program. What happened with them?

How They Did It

They took patients with chronic, defined as greater than three months, full-thickness rotator cuff tears on MRI that were enrolled in the nonoperative study from 2008-2010. 

They started a nonoperative, home-based treatment program and they were followed up with after different time intervals. 

What They Found

Check this out, at 5 or more years follow-up, approximately 75% of patients remained successfully treated with nonoperative treatment and had a quality of life score of 83 out of 100. 

Between years 2 and 5, only 3 patients thought to have a successful outcome regressed and had surgery

The operative and the nonoperative groups at the 5-year follow-up were not significantly different. 

Wrap It Up

The authors concluded, “Nonoperative treatment is an effective and lasting option for many patients with a chronic, full-thickness rotator cuff tear. While some clinicians may argue that nonoperative treatment delays inevitable surgical repair, our study shows that patients can do very well over time.”

Nonoperative treatment is an effective and lasting option for many patients with a chronic, full-thickness rotator cuff tear. While some clinicians may argue that nonoperative treatment delays inevitable surgical repair, our study shows that patients can do very well over time.

Click To Tweet

Pow. Snap. Bam. Smash. Kapow!

I don’t know why I take such joy in seeing that surgeons have less reason to do surgery but it give me a tickle in my belly and a warm fuzzy feeling. Who wants a hug, people? I’m feeling the spirit here. 

Item #3: Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Our last item here is called “The Effect of Manual Therapy Including Neurodynamic Techniques on the Overall Health Status of People With Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: A Randomized Controlled Trial(Wolny T 2018)” and is written by T Wolney, et. al., published in Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics in October of 2018. 

Why They Did It

They wanted to check the influence of manual therapy, including neurodynamic techniques, when compared to no treatment on overall health status in those with mild to moderate carpal tunnel syndrome. 

Again, as the title says, it was a randomized controlled trial with 189 subjects. 

They underwent treatment twice weekly. 

What exactly is meant by the term ‘Neurodynamic Technique’? Well, have you ever heard of nerve flossing? That is a type of neurodynamic technique. Gliding or sliding the median nerve in the case of carpal tunnel. Tensioning, relaxing basically. Pull out your Google machine. You’ll find some great YouTube examples of Neurodynamic Techniques to help you with your carpal tunnel patients. 

Now, what did they find?

The authors were able to conclude the following, “Manual therapy, including neurodynamic techniques, had a positive effect on overall health status in this group of individuals with carpal tunnel syndrome.”

Manual therapy, including neurodynamic techniques, had a positive effect on overall health status in this group of individuals with carpal tunnel syndrome.

Click To Tweet

Key Takeaways

  • The government doesn’t do a particularly better job than you can do on your own if you’re educated and stay evidence-informed
  • Even full-thickness tears of the rotator cuff do not mean surgical intervention in most patients
  • Carpal Tunnel Surgery doesn’t require surgical intervention in most mild-moderate patients if you learn some take-home exercises and implement neurodynamic techniques
  • Surgeons are going to need to start down-sizing those houses and maybe forego buying that private plane as they will be less and less busy in the years to come. 

Again, before you disappear this week, consider going to chiropracticforward.com and clicking on Store and pre-ordering our spanking brand new evidence-informed brochures. We are looking to gather up pre-orders and ordering all of them in bulk around March 29th. We would appreciate your help in making this happen. Team Chiropractic Forward!

https://www.chiropracticforward.com/shop/

 

Chiropractic evidence-based productsIntegrating Chiropractors

The Evidence-based Chiropractic Message

I want you to know with absolute certainty that when Chiropractic is at its best, you can’t beat the risk vs reward ratio because spinal pain is primarily a movement-related pain and typically responds better to movement-related treatment instead of chemical treatments like pills and shots.

When compared to the traditional medical model, research and clinical experience show that many patients get good or excellent results through chiropractic for headaches, neck pain, back pain, joint pain, to name just a few.

Chiropractic care is safe and cost-effective. It can decrease instances of surgery & disability. Chiropractors normally do this through conservative, non-surgical means with minimal time requirements or hassle to the patient.

And, if the patient develops a “preventative” mindset going forward from initial recovery, chiropractors can likely keep it that way while raising the general, overall level of health of the patient!

Key Point:

Patients should have the guarantee of having the best treatment offering the least harm.

That’s Chiropractic!

Contact

Send us an email at dr dot williams at chiropracticforward.com and let us know what you think of our show or tell us your suggestions for future episodes. Feedback and constructive criticism is a blessing and so are subscribes and excellent reviews on iTunes and other podcast services. Y’all know how this works by now so help if you don’t mind taking a few seconds to do so.

Help us get to the top of podcasts in our industry. That’s how we get the message out.

Connect

We can’t wait to connect with you again next week. From the Chiropractic Forward Podcast flight deck, this is Dr. Jeff Williams saying upward, onward, and forward.

Website

Home

Social Media Links

https://www.facebook.com/chiropracticforward/

Chiropractic Forward Podcast Facebook GROUP

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1938461399501889/

Twitter

YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtc-IrhlK19hWlhaOGld76Q

iTunes

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/chiropractic-forward-podcast-chiropractors-practicing/id1331554445?mt=2

Player FM Link

https://player.fm/series/2291021

Stitcher:

https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-chiropractic-forward-podcast-chiropractors-practicing-through

TuneIn

https://tunein.com/podcasts/Health–Wellness-Podcasts/The-Chiropractic-Forward-Podcast-Chiropractors-Pr-p1089415/

About the Author & Host

Dr. Jeff Williams – Chiropractor in Amarillo, TX, Chiropractic Advocate, Author, Entrepreneur, Educator, Businessman, Marketer, and Healthcare Blogger & Vlogger

 

Bibliography

  • Boorman RS, M. K., Lollinshead RM, (2018). “What happens to patients when we do not repair their cuff tears? Five-year rotator cuff quality-of-life index outcomes following nonoperative treatment of patients with full-thickness rotator cuff tears.” J Shoulder Elbow Surg 27(3): 444-448.
  • Cote P, S. B., Shearer HM, (2019). “Is a government-regulated rehabilitation guideline more effective than general practitioner education or preferred-provider rehabilitation in promoting recovery from acute whiplash-associated disorders? A pragmatic randomised controlled trial.” BMJ Open 9(e021283).
  • Wolny T (2018). “The Effect of Manual Therapy Including Neurodynamic Techniques on the Overall Health Status of People With Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: A Randomized Controlled Trial.” J Manipulative Physiol Ther 41(8): 641-649.

CF 033: Did You Need Proof That Chiropractors Help Headaches?

CF 041: w/ Dr. William Lawson – Research For Neck Pain