Aside from whatever modality not being covered by the insurance, another large barrier will be insurance not covering chiropractic care and/or tests/procedures ordered by a chiropractor. If you find yourself looking for more non-surgical options, you can search out a PM&R physician (MD or DO) who practice physical medicine (meaning musculoskeletal) but aren't surgeons. I don't know what non-surgical options would or would not be available, but they'd be covered by insurance and (typically) their recommendations. PM&R can be pretty broad, so finding someone who does more spine.
This used to be a belief I held on a simple litmus test of what works and what doesn't by appealing to those most financially incentivized to scrutinize the information the most effectively. Unfortunately, the connection between efficacy, cost-effectiveness, and insurance funding is tenuous, at best. Insurance companies certainly have policies in place that make them money, but there are massive holes where this is wrong if we're left to assume that insurance decisions tightly intertwine with effectiveness. Too often I have had to do prior authorizations or peer-reviews with the insurance company and waste a lot of my time to get them to approve something that's actually in their best interest (to the tune of thousands of dollars). They can create algorithms that overall are net positive for their bottom line, but imbedded within that is a lot of other waste because the calculations become too complex and can't account for second and third order thinking. One example is having to spend 45 minutes on the phone to get a medication approved that's on the Walmart $4 list where the risk of not taking it is the insurance company shelling out $2k/day for rehospitalization. Or an insurance company not funding 2-3 more days in the hospital to tie up loose ends and instead discharge the patient, only for them to be re-hospitalized for 10 days. They hire physicians to do the "peer-review," but their role is not to actually think like a physician. They are just given the insurance company's criteria for _______ with no wiggle room. So it isn't really a "peer-review," it's a review of insurance criteria (set by who knows) that someone making minimum wage could do, but they have a physician do the review because they can indirectly give the impression that a physician signed off on that, when the physician isn't rendering their opinion about the case at all, just about whether the case fits the company's criteria. I will have them admit that they know it's going to be more costly to the insurance company on the back-end when the patient is re-admitted, but there's nothing in the insurance company's guidelines that allows their physician to help protect themselves from their own horrible policies. On the flip side, there are so many practices and interventions in medicine that are paid for by insurance but have very questionable benefits (even if we’re just talking financially). Even more unfortunate, when they try to act on that, they end up screwing it up for the individuals who may actually be benefitting, but their criteria often can’t capture the right populations for the right interventions.
Patients pay thousands for back pain treatment — with little scientific evidence that it works
Claims of success for spinal decompression devices stretch the truth, an investigation found. The treatment hasn't been proven in rigorous studies.www.nbcnews.com
If it really worked, insurance would jump all over it, because it would save them thousands of dollars. Health insurance companies always prefer the cheapest solution.
This is similar to the above. It's a great idea in theory, but in reality this is not so neat and clean. There are plenty of flaws with this.
I fully agree, and I should used somewhat more reserved language in these statements.
Also a neurologist may be able to point you in a particular direction.
Woah!!!! What the hell happened to the rest of you?!!! You ligaments, tendons, muscles, and blood?
This makes me wonder if those of us that have standing desks uses them enough, and for those that do use them heavily if it helps them out.
