Opioids. Back Pain. Treatment Options. Chiropractic has a role
in managing and easing pain that should not be ignored.
Primary care physicians don’t
feel much confidence treating
musculoskeletal pain. (1) Family practitioners are the largest
prescribers of opioids. (2) Meanwhile, who takes care of 40% of
pain patients? Chiropractors! (1) Your Burlington and Hamilton chiropractor at Spinal Care Clinic
treats many pain patients and relieves plenty of Burlington and Hamilton back pain often without opioids.
STATISTICS ON OPIOIDS FOR PAIN
The following stats are based
on a large study of 478,981 newly diagnosed, “opiate-naïve”
patients who begin utilizing opiates for pain relief. (2)
- 40.4% of pain patients received
opioid prescriptions for the first time inside
the first year of pain while only 4% met the requirement for
long-term use.
- Family practice doctors are the most usual
first prescribers of opiates for pain whose risk of prescribing these early in
the pain process is 24.4% while those patients then have a 2% risk of long-term,
continued opiate use.
- Patients who look for care from emergency
medicine doctors (43.1%) or urgent care facility (40.8%) are most
certainly to be prescribed opiates early in their pain cycle.
- Patients diagnosed first by a pain
management doctor or physical medicine and rehab provider have a
higher risk of long-term opioid use by 6.7% and 3.4%, respectively.
Spinal Care Clinic invites pain patients to seek
Burlington and Hamilton chiropractic care first!
PHYSICIANS WHO TREAT PAIN
Primary care physicians (52%), pain physicians (2%),
chiropractors (40%), acupuncturists (7%) treat
chronic pain patients. Primary care physicians are the least likely
physicians to feel confident treating musculoskeletal and neuropathic
pain. (1) Chiropractors like yours at Spinal Care Clinic confidently use
non-drug management and/or co-management with other providers for the pain relief and pain control for Burlington and Hamilton back
pain patients.
CHIROPRACTIC’S PLACE IN PAIN CARE
Spinal Care Clinic ponders why
chiropractors aren’t more readily thought of
in the process for Burlington and Hamilton pain relief, particularly
Burlington and Hamilton back pain relief. Chiropractic services intergrate
spinal manipulation (one of the top recommended forms
of care for back pain by the American Pain Society and the American College of
Physicians (3)), exercise, and nutrition. What stops some
medical doctors from considering nutrition? A recent article states the reason
in its title: “Nutrition: Push For Doctors To Learn Nutrition: Many Graduate
Without Training.” It also shares that patients think
their medical doctor understands nutrition. (4) And that’s ok if
healthcare professionals coordinated care along their
lines of expertise, recognizing that each
has a role in the care of the pain patient and has the best interest
of the patient fundamentally. Chiropractors are
proficient in non-surgical and non-drug care of pain, back
pain, and spine pain.
COORDINATING CARE
Knowing that a healthcare provider’s
profession effects his/her treatment recommendations,
guidelines for Burlington and Hamilton back pain patient care are established
in an attempt to apply the expertise fully.
Interdisciplinary care challenges differences among professions and their
recommendation standards so that a patient gets a consistent
therapy message with up-to-date treatment guidelines. Activity messages
do vary by profession though: nurses were more restrictive in
their recommendations of activity; physicians were more in line
with guidelines; physiotherapists recommended much more activity but less work
activity than physicians. (5) Spinal Care Clinic collaborates with other
local Burlington and Hamilton healthcare providers for patient care, appreciating
their expertise and contribution to Burlington and Hamilton
back pain patients’ return to activities of daily living that make each day better.
CONTACT Spinal Care Clinic
Schedule a Burlington and Hamilton chiropractic appointment with
Spinal Care Clinic for interdisciplinary care of your pain. Your
Burlington and Hamilton chiropractor is ready and willing to
work with fellow Burlington and Hamilton healthcare providers and to share
with you options on how to manage your back pain beyond and/or
alongside opioid drug care.