Georgetown Pain and Inflammation Helped by Spinal Manipulation
Pain and inflammation are known companions. Spinal manipulation has been used to decrease spine pain, back pain, neck pain, arm pain, and leg pain. New studies show that the effect of spinal manipulation may extend beyond the spine to possibly mediate inflammation and its impact on spine pain. Dr. Butwell views improvement in our spine pain patients in several ways: pain reduction, function improvement, etc. The functions of inflammation in back pain and of spinal manipulation in reducing that pain is key to the Georgetown chiropractic treatment plan.
BIOMARKERS
Biomarkers are measurable indicators of body function via tests like blood pressure, urine testing, blood testing, imaging, etc. Biomarkers can indicate normal and abnormal processes taking place in the body. In the area of back pain, researchers have been scrutinizing blood testable biomarkers like tumor necrosis factor (TNFα), interleukin-1 β (IL-1β), IL-6, IL-2, interferon (IFN), IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1RA), TNF soluble receptor type 2 (sTNFR2) and IL-10 to tell the story. A newer biomarker test is brain imaging. What makes brain imaging interesting? Researchers realize that chronic back pain surely alters the spine and suggest that it changes the brain structure. Brain imaging is a non-invasive biomarker able to produce brain resting-state functional connectivity to analyze such variations. (1) Researchers keep coming up with new tests! Dr. Butwell is following these biomarker findings carefully.
BIOMARKER TESTING FOR BACK PAIN
As low back pain continues to dominate healthcare as one of the most significant contributors to disability globally, researchers are researching biomarkers and their role in low back pain. Researchers wondered if there was a difference in the inflammatory profiles of nonspecific acute and chronic low back pain sufferers. They discovered a distinct difference in that there was an imbalance between pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory mediator levels leaning toward an overproduction of proinflammatory components in both types of patients. (2) Another report found that C-reactive protein in patients with acute non-specific low back pain and TNF-α in chronic non-specific low back pain patients were higher. (3) These types of tests may help your Georgetown chiropractor follow your back pain in a new way.
BIOMARKER TESTING OF BACK PAIN RESPONSE TO SPINAL MANIPULATION
The chiropractic treatment plan at Dr. Butwell currently heavily relies on gentle spinal manipulation to ease pain. A blood test study for biomarkers taken at the start of and 2 weeks after such spinal manipulative treatment found significant (though limited and diverse) changes in the production of several biomarkers in acute and chronic back pain patients. Pain and disability scores fell as well. (4) These are beneficial findings for the implementation of spinal manipulation for back pain. Dr. Butwell is excited to learn more about biomarker-level changes with Georgetown spinal manipulation!
CONTACT Dr. Butwell
Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. James Cox on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he discusses how use of chiropractic spinal manipulation and Cox® Technic Flexion Distraction may well go beyond pain relief.
Make your Georgetown chiropractic appointment today. Daily, pain and inflammation come through our door together. Our treatment helps ease their influence on the lives of our Georgetown chiropractic patients.
