How to Stay Up to Date with Spine Care: 3 Articles, 2 Quotes, and 1 Question

I subscribe to a newsletter by James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, entitled “3-2-1 Thursday.” Mr. Clear includes 3 ideas, 2 quotes, and 1 question in a regular email newsletter.

I also have some Google alerts setup so that I can receive up to date information on back pain, spine intervention treatments, and other topics that I follow. I read journals particular to my space in Pain Medicine. But it is hard to keep up with the flow of information related to spine manipulation, exercise, surgical and nonsurgical medicine.

So I decided to follow the lead set by “3-2-1 Thursdays” and create a newsletter with 3 recent articles from different domains of spine care, 2 quotes, and 1 question. My hope is that this format will allow for interaction of a wide circle of specialists and will create a space to help keep us all more up to date.

3 Articles:

• The effects of chiropractic spinal manipulation on central processing of tonic pain – a pilot study using standardized low-resolution brain electromagnetic tomography (sLORETA): This study showed habituation to pain following the sham intervention, with no habituation occurring following the chiropractic intervention. This suggests that the chiropractic spinal adjustments may alter central processing of pain and unpleasantness.
  
  
• Intra-articular Corticosteroid Injections in the Hip and Knee: Perhaps Not as Safe as We Thought? Four main adverse joint findings have been structurally observed in patients after IACS injections: (1) accelerated OA progression, (2) subchondral insufficiency fracture, (3) complications of osteonecrosis, and (3rapid joint destruction, including bone loss.
  
  
• Are Nonpharmacologic Interventions for Chronic Low Back Pain More Cost Effective Than Usual Care? Proof of Concept Results From a Markov Model, Despite their additional upfront costs, this study concludes that the nonpharmacologic alternatives considered “were more effective and cost effective than usual care alone, and that many had the potential for cost savings over the model’s one-year time horizon.”

2 Quotes:

• “There is strong epidemiological and clinical evidence that care seeking and disability due to LBP depend more on complex individual and work- related psychosocial factors than on clinical features or physical demands of work.” (Occupational health guidelines for the management of low back pain at work. Waddell. 2000.)
  
  
• “There are things that we do not know we don’t know.” (Donald Rumsfeld)

1 Question

What journals do you read most often to stay up to date in the delivery of evidence-informed spine care? Do any of the below work for you? Let us know your go-to resources!

• Nature
• Spine
• Journal of Chiropractic Medicine
• Pain Medicine
• Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics
• Journal of Neurosurgery