{"id":48170,"date":"2019-06-12T13:56:18","date_gmt":"2019-06-12T17:56:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/?p=48170"},"modified":"2023-07-17T15:36:44","modified_gmt":"2023-07-17T19:36:44","slug":"clinic-offers-rapid-access-to-customized-care-for-patients-with-low-back-pain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/healthy-tomorrows\/clinic-offers-rapid-access-to-customized-care-for-patients-with-low-back-pain\/","title":{"rendered":"Clinic offers rapid access to customized care for patients with low back pain"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Kirstin Henderson (left), practice lead for the Rapid Access Clinic for Low Back Pain, explains parts of the spine to a patient. Education is one of the focuses of the clinic.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lynne Miles is grateful that her life has returned to normal. She felt debilitating low back pain for three months before she went to the Rapid Access Clinic for Low Back Pain (formerly the Inter-professional Spine Assessment and Education Clinic) at The Ottawa Hospital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lynne\u2019s\nsevere low back pain started suddenly in October 2018 and ran down her left\nleg. She lost sensation in her left foot. She couldn\u2019t bend down or sit. The\npain was so intense that she refused to sit during a job interview. Driving was\nimpossible. Even though she has a high pain tolerance, the low back pain was\naffecting her psychologically. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To\nhelp her cope, her family doctor prescribed painkillers, but there was no\nimprovement. In an effort to get better, Lynne tried alternative manual\ntherapies such as chiropractor manipulation, acupuncture, physiotherapy and\nmassage. Nothing made her condition manageable. Having run out of ideas, Lynne\nreturned to her family doctor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s when she was referred to the Rapid Access Clinic for Low Back Pain at The Ottawa Hospital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI left from my first appointment at the clinic with an exercise plan, a referral to physiotherapy and a new prescription,\u201d explained Lynne. Two-and-a-half weeks after her initial visit to the clinic, Lynne\u2019s pain went from a nine to a two on the ten-point pain scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was like night and day,\u201d she said.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"
Models of the spine give patients a real-life understanding of low back pain and how to manage it. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Rapid Access Clinic for Low Back Pain is a provincial initiative that aims to reduce the long waiting time to see a specialist. It aims to provide patients with rapid access to specialized, holistic care they need with a focus on education and self-management. The evaluation for the pilot program showed a 99 percent patient satisfaction rate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPatients who are referred to the clinic receive standardized rapid assessments where their condition is looked at more holistically and they are given personalized self-management plans,\u201d explained Kirstin Henderson, practice lead for the Rapid Access Clinic for Low Back Pain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The clinic helps direct patients to the most appropriate care if required. The focus is to identify and direct a plan of care for each patient based on their specific issues using evidence-based recommendations. Patients are empowered to undertake their plan with guidance over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe clinic model allows us to help patients manage low back and low-back pain-related symptoms before they become chronic,\u201d added Henderson. \u201cThe program empowers the patients, giving them the tools to help themselves and to manage their condition.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Patients
Patients referred to the Rapid Access Clinic for Low Back Pain receive standardized rapid assessments and customized self-management plans to help them manage their low back pain. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Back pain is one of the most common reasons to visit a doctor, chiropractor or physiotherapist (Power et al 2006). Four out of five adults will experience at least one episode of back pain at some time in their lives, according to Statistics Canada. Triaging these patients properly is very important. Incorrect assessment delays treatment and unnecessarily prolongs the wait times for patients who need surgery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the clinic was fully implemented in February 2019, 600 patients have been seen and less than five percent of them have needed MRI or surgery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More facts about the Rapid Access Clinic for Low Back Pain:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Patients must have symptoms lasting less than one year to be eligible for the ISAEC.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • A referral from a family doctor who completed a short online training course is required.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Patients referred to the clinic program are seen within four weeks.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • There is no hands-on treatment provided at the clinic. Practitioners in the community with specialist training perform that role.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Patients who go to the clinic who require referrals for imaging, epidural injections or surgical consultation will see that process go faster than normal.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Lynne Miles suffered for three months with intense low back pain that affected many parts of her life. A referral to the Rapid Access Clinic for Low Back Pain at The Ottawa Hospital offered her a new, empowering approach to managing it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":48175,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[415,381,121],"class_list":["post-48170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-healthy-tomorrows","tag-pain-management","tag-patient-experience","tag-quality"],"acf":[],"wps_subtitle":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48170"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48170\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}