Scott Baker, cohost of SpineFit Radio, has reached out to me with his personal story. This is the first in a four-part series where we try to shed some light on his issue.
Here’s what Scott had to say:
Hello, I’m Scott Baker. After cohosting dozens of podcasts with Dr. Sean Riley from Tulsa Spine and Rehab, I thought I had a pretty good handle on the world of chiropractic care. It wasn’t until I recently needed care myself that I realized how many questions I still had. Unfortunately for me, I don’t live in Oklahoma, so going to see Dr. Riley wasn’t a viable option. I set about choosing the right doctor and found out that it’s not so easy. Here’s my story.
About four months ago, I injured my back while I was running through the airport with my carry-on bag in Chicago. I didn’t feel anything at the time—there wasn’t a magical pop or anything like that. The next morning I woke up with some noticeable tightness. The issue got progressively worse. By the third day, I could barely walk. I saw my primary care physician when I got back to my hometown and he set me up with some pain medication. I took the meds for about a week and everything seemed to turn out fine.
Fast-forward four months when I was on a family vacation. I’d long forgotten about the pain meds. It didn’t even occur to me that I might need to bring them with me. While I was playing in the ocean and enjoying the waves, a familiar feeling emerged. The pain had returned in my back. By the time I was getting ready to go home, I could barely get into the car. I figured that it was time to get more meds to mask the pain.
My question is, is there something I could do so I wouldn’t have to experience that unexpected low back pain all over again? I think the medicine might just be covering up my problem instead of addressing it.
I’m glad that Scott shared his experience with us. Unfortunately, it’s all too common for someone who’s relatively healthy to develop low back pain. It’s typical protocol for the primary care doctor to recommend medication to the patient in these cases. Like Scott, the patient will probably start to feel better over the course of a few days or weeks. It won’t be until several months later that the problem may reemerge.
The primary care doctor’s role is to serve as a first line of defense. They see practically everything including the common cold, broken bones, sinus infections, and of course, low back pain. We think it’s critical that physicians are educated about the options they can present to patients. Their recommendation could make a big difference for someone who potentially experiences the same issue later down the road.
The team at Tulsa Spine and Rehab cooperates closely with other healthcare providers here in town. We’ve made an active effort to make sure that physicians are aware of the broad scope of treatment options available to their patients. Thanks to the relationships that we’ve built, physicians know that medication is helpful in the short-term, but there is an underlying issue that we can address.
If you see a doctor in our area, they might make a recommendation that you visit our office to investigate the low back pain you’re experiencing. From there, we’ll probably go into detail about some of your underlying factors. We’ve often spoken about sitting at a desk for extended periods of time. You may also have some mobility or stability issues. In combination with the medication you were prescribed, we can recommend activity modification, manipulation, or exercises that will hopefully prevent the problem from coming back.
For those of you like Scott who don’t live in the area, I would encourage you to be aware of the options at your disposal. Medication does play an important role here, but you should also look for a chiropractor in your town who will take your unique situation into consideration to come up with an effective plan.
Above all else, I highly encourage you not to wait for the issue to go away by itself. Even though it’s in our nature to wait, it’s a good idea to get checked out if pain persists several days. You want to make sure that it’s nothing too serious. The sooner you get the issue checked, the sooner we can determine the problem and find out how to treat it. If you were to wait a couple of weeks, your body will begin to compensate. Not only would we have to deal with the original low back pain, but we would also have to look at secondary weakness or tightness that could have been completely prevented.
Be sure to come back for the next part in our series, when we’ll talk about the qualities you should look for (and avoid) while researching the chiropractors in your area.
Click here to read Part 2 in this series
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