Neck Disability Index: Fill & Download for Free

Some of these are no longer pen and paper, but all can be done that way. There are also many different forms of these, but these categories cover most of the assessments that I can think of right now.visual analog scalepain diagramspain questionnaires (e.g. McGill)pain disability instruments (e.g. Oswestry, Neck Disability Index)health status indices (e.g. Sickness Impact Profile)patient satisfaction indicesoutcome measures. (e.g. Patient Specific Functional Score)

Great question. What we do at our office at Living Well Family Chiropractic in Chelan, WA is perform a detailed first exam including a thorough health history, orthopedic tests, chiropractic tests, neurologic, and muscle tests.History: We get a full history of the injury and detail what patients can and can’t do now, what they could before then injury, and what their goals are for function. An easy way to track this is with a Neck Disability Index questionnaire and a Oswestry_Low_Back_Disability questionnaire. We also use a pain scale for each location (0/10 being no pain and 10/10 being worst pain). Subjectively these numbers are easy to track to see patients subjective improvement. We also use a System Survey to asses overall wellness and track other symptoms the patient is experiencing.Exam: Orthopedic tests are used to help diagnose the problem. Neurologic tests are used to see if these is any nerve damage. Chiropractic tests look at muscle tightness, muscle strength (this can be graded), and joint global range of motion and segmental range of motion (ROM). Each joint has a specific normal ROM that we can compare the patient. When indicated we also use medical imaging such as x-rays or MRI to asses initial damage.Treatment Plan: We put a plan together for how to help get the patients out of pain and back do doing what they love. This typically includes getting adjusted, stretching, and strengthening. It also may include other home care such as decreasing stress, eating healthier, or improving sleep.Re-exam: Each visit we track certain aspects of the history and exam to measure improvements both subjectively and objectively. When we perform a re-exam, we go over all the subjective and objective tests that were positive (created pain) and compare results (decreased pain, increased ROM, decreased symptoms, increased functional activities). When indicated we can also order follow up medical imaging such as x-rays or MRI to re-asses before and after results.

Half of patients are sore for a very important reason: correction is happening and soft tissues are adapting. Similar to an unfamiliar workout or getting braces on your teeth, the changes are appropriate and to be expected.A prospective study in upper cervical practices across the US validates your experience and answers the more important question of outcome. The results speak for themselves. Here’s the published abstract:Background: Observational studies have previously shown that adverse events following manipulation to the neck and/or back are relatively common, although these reactions tend to be mild in intensity and self-limiting.However, no prospective study has examined the incidence of adverse reactions following spinal adjustments using upper cervical techniques, and the impact of this care on clinical outcomes.Methods: Consecutive new patients from the offices of 83 chiropractors were recruited for this practice-based study. Clinical outcome measures included 1) Neck pain disability index (100-point scale), 2) Oswestry back pain index (100-point scale), 3) 11-point numerical rating scale (NRS) for neck, headache, midback, and low back pain, 4) treatment satisfaction, and 5) Symptomatic Reactions (SR). Data were collected at baseline, and after approximately 2 weeks of care. A patient reaching sub-clinical status for pain and disability was defined as a follow-up score <3 NRS and <10%, respectively. A SR is defined as a new complaint not present at baseline or a worsening of the presenting complaint by >30% based on an 11-point numeric rating scale occurring <24 hours after any upper cervical procedure.Results: A total of 1,090 patients completed the study having 4,920 (4.5 per patient) office visits requiring 2,653 (2.4 per patient) upper cervical adjustments over 17 days. Three hundred thirty- eight (31.0%) patients had SRs meeting the accepted definition. Intense SR (NRS ≥8) occurred in 56 patients (5.1%). Outcome assessments were significantly improved for neck pain and disability, headache, mid-back pain, as well as lower back pain and disability (p <0.001) following care with a high level (mean = 9.1/10) of patient satisfaction. The 83 chiropractors administered >5 million career upper cervical adjustments without a reported incidence of serious adverse event.Conclusions: Upper cervical chiropractic care may have a fairly common occurrence of mild intensity SRs short induration (<24 hours), and rarely severe in intensity; however, outcome assessments were significantly improved with less than 3 weeks of care with a high level of patient satisfaction. Although our findings need to be confirmed in subsequent randomized studies for definitive risk-benefit assessment, the preliminary data shows that the benefits of upper cervical chiropractic care may outweigh the potential risks.Keywords: Chiropractic, Adverse Effects, Symptomatic Reactions, Manipulation, Upper Cervical.Link below:https://www.dropbox.com/s/a3qq62ezeh0158a/ERIKSEN-Symptomatic%20reactions%2C%20clinical%20outcomes%20and%20patient%20satisfaction.pdf?dl=0