In this educational video Dr. David Koivuranta (Dr. Dave) outlines a patient‑centered approach to managing neck and back pain, centered on the "3 A's" – Awareness, Assessment/Advice, and Action/Adherence (with an emphasis on patience). He begins by acknowledging that while various treatment modalities such as physiotherapy, massage, chiropractic care, and exercise can be beneficial, lasting relief depends on the patient’s own management. He explains each A: (1) Awareness – understanding daily movements and habits that affect spinal health; (2) Assessment/Advice – obtaining a professional, individualized evaluation rather than a generic opinion, to create a clear, tailored plan; (3) Action/Adherence – consistently following the prescribed treatment and self‑care regimen, and being patient with the healing process. He stresses that the biggest determinant of recovery is the patient’s willingness to take action and stay consistent, especially for the roughly 30 % of people with chronic pain. The video concludes with encouragement to apply the 3 A's, choose the treatment that fits personal preferences, and maintain daily awareness to preserve long‑term spine health.
Chapters
Hello everyone, it's Dr. Dave. Hopefully you're all doing well, enjoying your week, taking care of each other, staying well, and creating those great experiences in your life. Had some new patients come by the clinic this week, two in fact that stand out in my mind because they were great question askers. They asked a lot of great questions, and I appreciate the fact that they're concerned about their health and wellness. And I realized that the treatment is sometimes not as important as the management of the neck or back pain. And, uh, it reminded me of the 3 A's that I like to think about when it comes to taking care of neck and back pain. So if you like physio, go for physio. If you like the idea of getting a massage for your neck or back pain, go get a massage. If you like the idea of maybe trying chiropractic, uh, then go do chiropractic. If you want to stretch, strengthen, and stabilize things, you know, work with an athletic therapist, a trainer, somebody, do those things as well. Do what makes sense to you. Do what you want to do to take care of yourself. However, if you're looking for results, if you really want to not only feel better with your neck and your back pain, but also make sure that it's fixed, that it's working well, and that it's going to serve you well into the future with less likelihood of problems happening again, then I want you to consider the management of that neck and back pain. So the 3 A's are first awareness. Without having some awareness of your neck and back and what you're doing with your neck and back throughout the day, and what you should and shouldn't be doing in order to support health and wellness and healing with your neck and back, your awareness needs to be at a certain level. The reality is no matter what you go and do, if you lack awareness when you're not doing those treatments or living the rest of your life, it's really an uphill battle. And the awareness is what will save you going forward. If you wanna have a future of good health, your awareness around your health and wellness and what you're doing every day is gonna be very valuable. So you wanna make sure that you're being coached on the things to be aware of to support the health of your spine and your overall health and wellness, but especially of your neck and your back. Now before I would do anything personally, for my family, my loved ones, everybody else, is I would wanna get some advice. I would wanna know that what I'm choosing to do to get in terms of treatment or to do on my own as self-care is specifically designed for me and my current state of health and/or the problem that I have. And in order to do that, I'd wanna get some advice Not an opinion. Now, an opinion can be very valuable, especially if it comes from a qualified expert or healthcare provider, but I would want even that opinion still to be based on an assessment. I want someone to take a deep look and I want them to be able to tell me, point out to me, show me, let me feel what the problem is. What exactly is causing my neck or back pain, or what is the state of affairs? It may not be one thing and it may not even be something that you can pinpoint, but you may be able to get a sense of the state of affairs in the neck or the lower back that's contributing to that problem. And from that assessment then, create a clear plan. And what are we gonna do? What is it gonna take and how much is it gonna take to get my neck or back better? So I wanna increase my awareness, teach me how to do that, and I want an assessment so you can give me some proper advice. Then the thing that I thought about this today with these two specific patients that came in, they're like, well, how long will it take? How will I know it's working? How will I know I'm gonna get better? Like, how do I know? And the reality is you don't know. There are no guarantees in healthcare. Now you can reasonably know. A healthcare provider probably wouldn't start care or interact with you in any way unless they thought there was room for improvement. And, uh, based on the assessment, that would be the case. But I'll tell you, the biggest determining factor in whether or not somebody gets better, stays better, not only feels better, but actually recovers their health and their function is their ability to take action. And follow the steps that are required, both in terms of the treatment and the things that they're doing in between the treatments at home with their self-care and their awareness, that determines the best outcome. So if you're looking to really solve your neck or back pain problem, especially if you're in that 30% of the population that's suffering with chronic pain, I would wager that you would see improvement if you focused on creating some awareness around that problem and the solution, getting some proper advice based on an assessment, and then taking action and following through on those steps and being patient. We're so in a hurry to stay well and we're so impatient to get well. We want to be in a hurry to get well and then we have lots of time to create an illness or problem and it's backwards. We want to be patient with creating that solution and getting better and then we want to be impatient and in a hurry to stay well. You should be doing things every day with your awareness to preserve your health and wellness. Alright, coming at you today on behalf of the Toronto Neck and Back Pain Clinic, Happy to provide you with some tips on those 3 A's. Hopefully you found them useful. Now get out there, keep looking for a solution to your neck and back pain. I know you can find it. Take care and be well.
