For primary care physicians

Where to send your back & neck pain patients

Many of your back and neck pain patients do well with your care. Others need further professional service. Here's the case for referring them to Dr. Donald R. Murphy — a Primary Spine Practitioner with 30+ years of experience and 100+ peer-reviewed publications.

See the approach

One-page reference Print or share with a colleague

Dr. Murphy's intro for PCPs — about 3 min.

Your challenge

Today's options — and where each falls short

Many of your patients with back or neck pain do well with your care. For the rest, the conventional referral pathways have well-known trade-offs.

Each option has its place. The key is “Who and When” — seeing the right type of professional at the right time. The typical non-surgical patient who simply needs a clear diagnosis and targeted, time-efficient care is best off seeing a Primary Spine Practitioner.

01.

Physical Therapy

2–3 visits per week, 30–60 minutes each, often for 6 weeks or more.

Often helpful, but not everyone needs that much of a time commitment up front.
Better to start with a Primary Spine Practitioner (PSP) who can coordinate PT if needed.
Dr. Murphy has worked closely with PTs for decades.

02.

Physical Medicine (Physiatry)

Great with complex cases, which are important but uncommon.
Injections useful in isolated, uncommon circumstances.
Can refer to PT, but you could have done that yourself.
Better to start with a PSP who has widely applicable, minimally invasive skills and can coordinate physical medicine referral when needed.

03.

Orthopedist / Neurosurgeon

Skill set is surgery, not non-surgical treatments.

Surgery only applies to <10% of patients.
Not interested in non-surgical patients.
Better to start with a PSP who has widely applicable, minimally invasive skills and can coordinate surgical referral when needed.

Any other options?

Yes.

The solution

Dr. Murphy — Primary Spine Practitioner

A focused, evidence-based pathway for the non-surgical spine patient: clear diagnosis, time-efficient treatment, and active patient engagement — with coordinated imaging or specialist care when (and only when) it's needed.

Differential diagnosis first

The “3 Questions of Diagnosis”

I seek the answers to these 3 questions to arrive at a diagnosis — before any treatment decision is made.

1 Triage

Are there “red flags”?

2 Source

Where is the pain coming from?

3 Perpetuators

What factors are causing it to persist?

Treatment approach

A handful of focused visits

01.

15-minute visits — after a comprehensive initial exam

Most patients are managed in a small number of focused 15-minute visits — not the multi-hour, multi-week commitments other pathways require.

02.

Manual treatment & targeted exercise

Skilled manual treatments (seldom with “cracking”) and exercise, with a focus on simple but effective self-care the patient can spend 10–15 minutes per day doing.

03.

The CBT-ACT context

Doctor–patient communication informed by the principles of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy — especially valuable for patients whose pain has become persistent.

04.

Coordinated specialist care when needed

For the few patients who need more than a handful of visits, Dr. Murphy coordinates the next step (usually PT) — and keeps you informed along the way.

When more is needed

For the few who need it — rare, but important:

Determine if imaging is needed (very uncommon)
Coordinate injections (very uncommon)
Coordinate surgical consult (very uncommon)
Keep you informed every step of the way

Have a patient in mind?

Send a referral straight to Dr. Murphy.

The result

A good outcome — for everyone involved

For the patient

Your patient is happy with the good result.

Clear answers, fewer visits, robust recovery — and the self-care tools to stay well.

For your practice

Appreciative to you for the great referral.

The patient comes back to your practice happy with the path you chose for them.

My job is to find the cause, treat it efficiently, give the patient the tools to manage it — and keep the referring physician in the loop the whole time.

Dr. Donald R. Murphy

DC, FRCC — Primary Spine Practitioner

Evidence base

Selected publications

Peer-reviewed research and clinical texts authored by Dr. Murphy — a sample of more than 100 publications informing the Primary Spine Practitioner approach.

Skip the reading

Got a referral ready? Reach Dr. Murphy directly — mobile, email, fax, or direct booking.

01

Murphy DR et al. A nonsurgical approach to the management of patients with cervical radiculopathy: A prospective observational cohort study.

Journal of manipulative and physiological therapeutics. 2006;29(4):279–87.
02

Murphy DR et al. A nonsurgical approach to the management of lumbar radiculopathy secondary to disc herniation: A prospective observational cohort study with long term follow-up.

Spine J. 2008;8(5S):161S.
03

Murphy DR et al. A non-surgical approach to the management of lumbar spinal stenosis: a prospective observational cohort study.

BMC musculoskeletal disorders. 2006;7:16.
04

Schneider MJ, Ammendolia C, Murphy DR et al. Comparative clinical effectiveness of nonsurgical treatment methods in patients with lumbar spinal stenosis: A randomized clinical trial.

JAMA Network Open. 2019;2(1):e186828.
05

Murphy DR et al. Outcome of pregnancy-related lumbopelvic pain treated according to a diagnosis-based decision rule: a prospective observational cohort study.

Journal of manipulative and physiological therapeutics. 2009;32(8):616–24.
06

Murphy DR. Clinical Reasoning in Spine Pain Volume I: Primary Management of Low Back Disorders.

Elsevier 2027.
07

Murphy DR. Clinical Reasoning in Spine Pain Volume II: Primary Management of Cervical Disorders and Case Studies in Primary Spine Care.

Elsevier 2027.

Refer a patient

Send your next back or neck pain patient.

Direct booking, faxed referral, or a quick call — whatever works for your office. Dr. Murphy will keep you informed every step of the way.