COVER STORY ISSUES Crisis of pain I The case for chiropractic in chronic pain management B y M ari -L en D e G uzMan t’s a typical scenario in many chiropractic clinics: patients come in complaining of back pain. They have been to the family doctor a few times, but nothing seems to help. They were prescribed different painkill-ers, including some narcotics, but nothing has pro-vided any lasting relief. “No one can help me,” is the usual cry of chronic pain sufferers. Canada’s unresolved pain problems have contributed to the growing opioid crisis that continues to result in thou-sands of deaths across the country. One in five Canadians suffer from chronic pain. With back pain as a leading cause, industry observers believe chiropractic can be a valuable element in the larger quest to break this vicious cycle that is chronic pain. However, while a potentially important player, many in the health care community agree when it comes to effective and sustainable chronic pain management, there is no one magic pill or one treatment to rule them all. Chronic pain is a complicated beast that needs multilevel and multi-modal approach involving teams of professionals of differ-ent skillsets and expertise. The latest evidence of this need for a cocktail of measures comes from a recent clinical guideline issued by the Amer-ican College of Physicians (ACP) on the management and treatment of acute, subacute and chronic low-back pain. In the document, the ACP enumerates a number of con-servative approaches – spinal manipulation, exercise, yoga, massage therapy, low-level laser therapy, cognitive behav-ioural therapy, among other things – as first-line therapy for managing low-back pain. MARI-LEN DE GUZMAN is the editor of Canadian Chiropractor magazine. She has worked in publishing for 20 years and has been editor of several business and professional magazines. You may contact her at mdeguzman@ annexweb.com. 18 Canadian Chiropractor April 2017 Proper biopsychosocial assessment of patients with chronic pain allows for appropriate treatment and referrals, when necessary. “(Health care practitioners) all play a piece in the puz-zle,” says Dr. Stephen Burnie, a Toronto-based chiroprac-tor who has done multiple research on the management and treatment of neck pain. “It’s important that chiroprac-tors become more recognized for that large piece that we can fill in solving the puzzle, but we also have to be cogni-zant of the fact that as chiropractors we don’t have the whole answer.” It’s been proven time and again that when chiropractors are integrated in primary health care, especially in the management of acute and chronic musculoskeletal pain, the outcomes are much better for the patients. Ontario is seen as leading the charge in changing the face of the health-care system, one program at a time, toward an interdisciplinary, patient-centred approach. St. www.canadianchiropractor.ca Photo: fotolia
Chiropractic + Naturopathic Doctor April 2017: Page 18
