Opioids. Back Pain. Treatment Options. Chiropractic has a place
in managing and easing pain that should not be ignored.
Primary care physicians don’t feel very confident treating
musculoskeletal pain. (1) Family practitioners are the leading
prescribers of opioids. (2) Meanwhile, who takes care of 40% of
pain patients? Chiropractors! (1) Your West Palm Beach chiropractor at Chiropractic Care
sees many pain patients and relieves a good deal of West Palm Beach back pain often with
no opioids.
STATISTICS ON OPIOIDS FOR PAIN
The following stats are founded
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 obtained
opioid prescriptions initially inside
the first year of pain but only 4% met the requirement for
long-term use.
- Family practice doctors are the most common
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 likely to be prescribed opiates early in their pain cycle.
- Patients diagnosed first by a pain
management doctor or physical medicine and rehab provider have an increased risk of long-term opioid use by 6.7% and 3.4%, respectively.
Chiropractic Care welcomes pain patients to seek
West Palm Beach chiropractic care first!
PHYSICIANS WHO TREAT PAIN
Primary care physicians (52%), pain physicians (2%),
chiropractors (40%), acupuncturists (7%) take care of
chronic pain patients. Primary care physicians are the least probable
physicians to feel confident treating musculoskeletal and neuropathic
pain. (1) Chiropractors like yours at Chiropractic Care confidently use
non-drug management and/or co-management with other providers for the pain relief and pain control for West Palm Beach back
pain patients.
CHIROPRACTIC’S PLACE IN PAIN CARE
Chiropractic Care speculates why
chiropractors are not more immediately thought of
in the process for West Palm Beach pain relief, especially
West Palm Beach back pain relief. Chiropractic services incorporate
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 notes that patients think
their medical doctor knows about nutrition. (4) And that is fine if
healthcare professionals coordinated care sharing their expertise, acknowledging that each
has a role in the care of the pain patient and has the best interest
of the patient fundamentally. Chiropractors have expertise in non-surgical and non-drug care of pain, back
pain, and spine pain.
COORDINATING CARE
Recognizing that a healthcare provider’s
profession influences his/her treatment recommendations,
guidelines for West Palm Beach back pain patient care are established
to try to use the expertise fully.
Interdisciplinary care challenges differences among professions and their
recommendation standards so that a patient gets a consistent
therapy message with current treatment guidelines. Activity messages
do vary by profession though: nurses were more restrictive in
their recommendations of activity; physicians were more aligned
with guidelines; physiotherapists recommended much more activity but less work
activity than physicians. (5) Chiropractic Care works with other
local West Palm Beach healthcare providers for patient care, appreciating
their expertise and involvement in West Palm Beach
back pain patients’ return to activities that they like to do.
CONTACT Chiropractic Care
Schedule a West Palm Beach chiropractic appointment with
Chiropractic Care for interdisciplinary care of your pain. Your
West Palm Beach chiropractor is willing and able to
work with fellow West Palm Beach healthcare providers and to offer you options on how to manage your back pain beyond and/or
alongside opioid drug care.