By Dr. Ted A Arkfeld, DC,MS

 

As Doctors of Chiropractic, we have spent many hours with pain. We study pain, we treat pain, and we've seen the eyes of those who come to us filled with pain. Chronic pain is a huge financial and emotional burden in Western society. It has become such an enormous problem that a secondary crisis, opioid addiction, grew out of it. Unfortunately, opioids are still causing a crisis of issues across America today. 

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After practicing in a pain management clinic for three years, I became even more convinced that if those patients had started with chiropractic care, many would not have needed epidural steroid injections, months and months of physical therapy, spinal surgery, or opioid medications. The real problem is the pain producer. We have been looking for pain in the wrong place! 

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While in chiropractic college, an instructor once said, "If you don't know where to look, you will never find the cause of a patient's pain". In my upcoming session at the MAC's Spring Convention, I will show you not only where to look, but how to treat chronic pain SUCCESSFULLY.

 

LOOKING FOR PAIN IN ALL THE WRONG PLACES

 

Just like the country song, except we are replacing "love" with "pain". We have been looking "in all the wrong places". Healthcare, especially in the musculoskeletal practices, has become very mechanical, very structurally orientated and focused. The latest in neuroscience research, as it relates to pain, indicates that this is a failed model of care. Even we, as chiropractors, have been looking in the wrong places as we have focused almost solely on the anatomical structures that were damaged. So how do we explain a patient who is still experiencing pain and discomfort after an anatomical structure has gone through its predictable amount of healing time? This is where the literature gets very interesting- it points to the pain as coming from the brain. It is NOT A MECHANICAL MECHANISM that we seek. IT IS NEUROLOGICAL ONE!

 

YOU HAVE TWO VISITS

 

As Dr. Anthony Nicholson from Australia clearly states, we treat people with pain in their frame. They are entering our office with preconceived notions about chiropractic care. Maybe even feeling a loss of hope that anyone can do anything for their condition. That is why we have two visits to develop a therapeutic alliance for the chronic pain patient.

What we say, how we examine, and how we explain what is occurring, HAS a therapeutic impact on the patient from the moment they enter our office. We must keep in mind, WE ARE TREATING A PATIENT, not a problem. 

We, therefore, need to look at that person through the lens of their nervous system. If they are in your office, other treatment measures HAVE FAILED. We must talk, examine, and treat them differently from any other offices or facilities they have already been to.

 

CONTEXTUALLY AIDED RECOVERY (CARe)

 

During my session at the MAC spring convention on chronic pain, I will introduce you to a new conceptual overview and paradigm of evaluation and treatment for the chronic pain patient. The most important new concept will be CARe. In short, the more a patient understands and interprets the words and actions of a clinician, and the clinical environment within the clinical encounter can switch on or off neurobiological pathways that directly reduce or enhance pain. 

It comes down to first impressions, and we want to make them impactful.

 

EDUCATIONAL INTERVENTION

 

Come, discover how to reframe, and re-educate yourself and your patients as to the true cause of your patients' pain. This DOES NOT MEAN explaining the subluxation complex or your mission as a chiropractor or your reason for being a chiropractor or how you became a chiropractor. What IT DOES MEAN is we must turn the attention, and our focus, back to the central nervous system, as it is actually responsible for the patient's continued chronic pain. We must bring the "NEURO" back to chiropractic.

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You can make a difference in so many patients' lives that have lost hope. Your patients don’t have to be left adrift in a sea of never-ending pain. This will require new knowledge and new tools for successful outcomes. Get started now by attending "What is Chronic Pain" at the MAC's Spring Convention in Traverse City on April 29th, 2022.

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Ted A. Arkfeld, D.C., M.S., is a 1988 graduate of Northwestern College of Chiropractic where he also received his Bachelor of Science degree in Human Biology. He earned his Master of Science in Biomechanical Trauma from Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida. 
 

He is the creator of The Neuro Way to Practice Program