FEATURE PRODUCT EVALUATION TOPICAL INTEREST Evaluating pain relief products that are right for your patients T BY HANA VEPRIKOVA AND BRYAN SHER he clinical market is flooded with new, over-the-counter products and equipment. Every day we are bombarded with emails, phone calls, company reps and pam-phlets, telling us in breathless detail about the amazing properties and qualities of this or that tool, cream or stretch band. In recent years, we have found ourselves starting to turn a blind eye to the deluge, as have many of you. This is a real pity, as there are some products out there that can make a substantial contribution to our evolving clinical practice. For some time now, private clinics and allied health professionals have played an increasingly important role in the delivery of primary, complex and long-term care. Every day we meet pa-tients who, in the past, would have gone to their doctor or local emergency de-partment. People with serious condi-tions and acute pain arrive looking for the kind of support we are often not fully equipped to provide. We need better tools, and the right tools, to ade-quately care for our increasingly com-plex case load. The medical and complementary health industry has responded to our need, by designing a diverse array of better equipment and products. How-ever, within the storm of marketing we all receive, the many great products out there can often escape our attention. Being very busy clinicians, as most of us are, we have had to learn how to quickly evaluate products, and to focus our at-tention on those with the highest poten-tial return for our practice. Let’s take a look at topical analgesics, as an example. The development of advanced clini-cal allopathic and over-the-counter topical analgesics to manage pain is an area where product advancement has been particularly marked. In the last 10 years we have seen dozens of products enter (and often leave) the market. As the number, diversity and types have grown, so has our potential to effectively treat acute and chronic pain in primary care and long-term rehabilitation. When a patient presents him/herself with serious musculoskeletal pain we assess and start a treatment regime that may include mobilization, pain relieving modalities, remedial exercise, behaviour modification, or referral to the appro-priate health-care provider within our multidisciplinary clinic. These treat-ments usually have great outcomes, but do not always resolve to our satisfaction. Sometimes, the pain a patient arrives with, is not the one they leave with. Sending a patient home with a sore back, inflamed joints, and an appoint-ment for next week doesn’t sit well with us, ethically, morally or clinically. Many products we see on the market A member of the Canadian Armed Forces applies topical analgesic for pain relief. HANA VEPRIKOVA is a physiotherapist trained in Canada and Europe, a runner and active mother of two teenage boys. She is the head of rehabilitation at the Rosedale Wellness Clinic in Toronto. DR. BRYAN SHER , DC, plays the trombone in a swing band and is an avid water skier. He is the owner and director of the Rosedale Wellness Clinic. 34 Canadian Chiropractor December 2015 claim to be able to help these patients. But with so many products in front of us how do we know which ones are suited to the challenges we face? Do they work? How do they work? Is there evidence to support their claims? What are the downsides? How do we sort through the knot of product types, claims and counterclaims? As clinicians responsible for www.canadianchiropractor.ca
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