069- Headaches: Everyone Has Them, No One Wants Them

Welcome to the Evidence Based Chiropractor providing you with elegant and efficient research based content to help your practice prosper and succeed. Now get ready for a variety of dynamic communication tools designed for immediate growth courtesy of your host, Dr. Jeff Langmaid.

Hello and welcome to the Evidence Based Chiropractor. I AM your host, Dr. Jeff Langmaid. This week we are back into the research. We are going to touch on a research paper called Evidence Based Guidelines for the Chiropractic Treatment of Adults With Headache. It was released by JMPT in 2011 and it's a really cool paper that I know that you are going to get a lot out of. But but before we get started, I'll say a few words as we do each and every week about Rock Tape Roc Tape, makers of the world's best Kinesiology tape, are proud to introduce completely redesigned rocksauce and rocksauce Chill Powerful topical muscle and joint pain relief now available in 3 ounce roll ons and 32 ounce clinical pump tops. Give long lasting pain relief to your patients. Learn more@rocktape.com topicals rob rocktape.com topicals Also, if you didn't have the opportunity to check it out, I put it out on Facebook. It's also on our YouTube page. I did a in depth review of Rock Blades which are Rocktape soft tissue tools. They're pretty awesome. I might be a little bit biased on that, but I encourage you to check them out and you can see the tools, hear me talk about them, see a bunch of different angles, how we can use them, how they work, everything in the kitchen sink. You can check that out. YouTube.com the evidencebasedchiropractor While you're there, give me a subscribe I'd love to get more people following and subscribing to the YouTube page. I am spending a lot of time, effort and energy to make sure that I deliver awesome video content. Podcast is not stopping. It will still be research in the time it takes to get to your office each and every Monday morning, coming out at 6am Eastern. But video is also cranking up here at the Evidence Based Chiropractor. Second to that Rock Stock Rock Tape announced their annual summit. It's going to take place in late September in Huntington Beach, California. I will take any excuse I can to get over to Huntington Beach. I love it there and I will definitely be in the house for that. So check it out. Last bit of business before we dive into the research. I would really appreciate it. There is over 2,500 and more chiropractors listening to this podcast every single week. I am crazy humbled by that. I am super thankful for that and I would really appreciate if you've been listening and getting something out of it to go onto itunes. Give us some feedback. Give us a rating. It helps more and more people find us. I think I have 16 ratings with 2,500 listeners. So don't think the next guy or gal is gonna do it. If you could, I'm asking you personally, it'd really make my day. Take a moment, give us feedback and some ratings on itunes. It helps us out dearly. So research for this week Evidence based guidelines for the Chiropractic Treatment of adults with headache jmpt 2011 almost everybody has headaches and nobody wants em. So where do people go for care? Often we find people are relying on medications which then they have to go up the pharmaceutical chain because they don't do anything different. Poor ergonomics, massive stress, sedentary lifestyle. We all know the routine. But there are many people who of course seek chiropractic care as well. So that's what JMPT looked at. Again, we know headaches are a common source of pain and disability for adults worldwide. It's not just us, but US certainly has their fair share of millions dealing with headaches every day. An accurate initial diagnosis and classification is key to establishing the proper treatment protocol. Again, it's important from our perspective, from a chiropractic perspective, do a good physical exam, ask questions, really get down in that case history. Because the bottom line is there are many primary care physicians who aren't going to do it. They're going to write that script, write that medication, write that pharmaceutical, and send the patient on their way addressing what the root cause may be. So do a good history, do a good physical. Somebody says headaches, they're not all the same. So take the time to examine the patient. This paper examined the recent literature published regarding the chiropractic treatment of headaches. As we know, over 20 articles were analyzed to create these guidelines. Spinal manipulation, the hallmark of chiropractic care, has been recommended for the treatment of migraine headaches and cervicogenic headaches. Matter of fact, there was always a study out there regarding headache and neck pain where thoracic adjustments seem to provide a significant amount of relief. So definitely check that out as well. And it's something to keep in mind. You know, there's some patients that maybe they don't like or they're scared or there's just contraindications for a cervical diversified or gonstead adjustment. Maybe they're not responding or you don't do activator or something like that. Instrument adjusted. Instrument adjusting. Excuse me. Well, don't hesitate to get into those thoracics, check that thoracic spine, because there's literature out there saying that thoracic adjustment certainly can help. So anyhow, for many patients, chiropractic care has resulted in a decrease of frequency and severity related to these debilitating headaches. This reduction in pain and improvement in quality of life is the reason why many people seek chiropractic care for headaches. So let's take a few quotes that the researchers found which I think are really, really tell. So I'm gonna give you three quotes from this research paper and again, I'll repeat the title for you one more time. Evidence Based Guidelines for the Chiropractic Treatment of adults with headache. JMPT, Volume 34, Number 5, 2011. The researchers found, quote, only controlled clinical trials, randomized controlled trials, and systematic reviews were selected as the evidence base for this guideline, consistent with current standards for interpreting clinical findings. It's a long, convoluted way of saying this is top tier research. They did not look at case study. They did not look at a sample size of 1. They looked at the highest tier research and the highest tier evidence that is currently available. Researchers also found evidence suggests that chiropractic care, including spinal manipulation, improves migraine and cervicogenic headaches. The type, frequency, dosage and duration of treatments should be based on guideline recommendations, clinical experience and findings, and evidence for the use of spinal manipulation as an isolated intervention for patients with tension type headaches remains equivocal. So with that quote, what they're really saying is spinal manipulation is absolutely supported, but how long should you do it for? What technique should you use? Et cetera is going to depend upon your examination and case history. They also found spinal manipulation is recommended for the management of patients with episodic or chronic migraine, with or without aura. This recommendation is based on studies that used a treatment frequency one to two times per week for eight weeks. So again, I'll repeat that one because this is really getting down to the clinical nature of what you can take and use in practice starting today, if you so choose. The researchers found spinal manipulation is recommended for the management of patients with episodic or chronic migraine, with or without aura. This recommendation is based on studies that used a treatment frequency one to two times per week for eight weeks. That does not mean that you cannot see your patient three times a week as they get started because they might have more going on, of course, than just the migraines alone. But a patient that presents to your office with migraine and migraine only, the research fully supports treating that patient one to two times per week for eight weeks. And what they find is that patients typically again have done decreased frequency, decreased severity of the episodes of migraine headache, whether they're episodic, whether they're chronic or anything in between. So this research is really fantastic because again we touched on at the top. There are millions of people that are relying on medications each and every day because of the migraines that they have. Then what do they do? Well, as time goes on, the medication goes up, the medication goes up, the medication goes up because they've changed, nothing else. So establishing chiropractic care as a preferred treatment is just what needs to happen. It's just the way to go. Now, as you've heard me talk time and time again, this is exactly what we do at the evidence based chiropractor. What I'm reading today, the paper that we're going over was featured as the monthly research brief for our members in October of 2016. So this is exactly the type of content that we want to distill down into and really get out there to other providers in the community. The bottom line is we know it. 90% of primary care physicians have had patients ask them about chiropractic care. 90%, you know how many I made a referral to chiropractors? 11%, coincidentally is right around what the utilization rate is. I think that is somewhat coincidence. But the bottom line is you can imagine that's an 80% gap. 90% have had people ask only 10%. 11% have referred. Imagine if that doubled to 20%. Imagine that tripled to 30%. God knows the research supports what we do. It's safe, it's effective, people like it. But to get in the door is the challenge. And a lot of times it comes down to, well, every time it comes down to relationships. And at the evidence based chiropractor, those relationships are built on trust, they're built on co management, they're built on highlighting what we do as chiropractors with a chiropractic adjustment. But it's all putting it together in a systematic fashion. Step one, step two, step three. So you know exactly what to do in building that relationship, that maintains the integrity of your practice, being efficient and making sure that you are building the bridge to getting more patients and more referrals into your practice as we talk about all the time. It would be a different story if chiropractic worked 4% of the time or 5% of the time, but it's just not true. We have one of the most safe and effective healthcare options ever available and we need to make sure that more and more people know it. I would challenge you think about what you're going to do to turn somebody new onto chiropractic this week in your practice. I would welcome helping you by you becoming a member of the Evidence Based Chiropractor. You can do that@the evidencebasedchiropractor.com if you have a different idea. If you're going to reach out other than through research and other than through going to other providers, I'd love to hear about your feedback. Shoot me an email. Jeffevidencebasedchiropractor.com I respond to every single email that I get because I am willing to take the time every day to make sure chiropractors have the tools and resources necessary to grow their practice and I'm always willing to learn. So headaches? Nobody wants them. Almost everybody has them. This is great research for your patients to know and for other providers to know as well. Chiropractic care fully supported for migraine headaches. So until next week again, hit us up. Feedback review iTunes if you've been listening, I am asking you a personal favor. Give us some feedback or a rating on itunes. Otherwise I will be back next week with more chiropractic marketing and research in the time it takes to get to your office. Share this episode with a friend and I will talk to you soon.

We appreciate you joining us for this episode of the Evidence Based Chiropractor. Learn more tips for explosive practice development@the evidencebasedchiropractor.com you can also join the Premier MD monthly membership, enabling you to use what you just heard to maximize results in your office. We look forward to providing you with more dynamic communication tools for immediate growth right here on the Evidence Based Chiropractor.