“What should I do about my back pain? It’s been going on for
so long.”
Sound familiar? It does for many West Palm Beach chronic low
back pain sufferers. Chiropractic Care knows
West Palm Beach
back pain patients struggle with this problem. There
are many options – rest, exercise, meds, manipulation, chiropractic,
medicine, yoga, acupuncture, surgery, etc. – which makes it hard
to choose. Recent studies have looked at the cost,
safety, and risk of treatment escalation for patients who choose
spinal manipulation
first versus those who choose opioid
analgesic treatment initially for their chronic low back pain. The findings
are thought-provoking.
COSTS OF OPIOID VS SMT FOR CHRONIC LOW BACK PAIN MEDICARE
PATIENTS
Chronic low back pain is a costly condition, but just how
costly is it? A review of Medicare health expenditures
for long-term care of chronic low back pain assessed the costs
of opioid analgesic treatment opposed to those for spinal manipulation
therapy. There were 28,160 participants aged 65-84 years old. 77% began
with opioid therapy for their chronic low back pain. 23% started
with SMT. The long-term costs for opioid-therapy patients were 58%
lower, but long-term overall healthcare expenditures were 1.87
times higher for those same opioid patients. (1) Chiropractic Care
follows a system of West Palm Beach chiropractic treatment frequency guided
by the 50% Rule looking for 50% relief of pain within 30 days with more visits in the beginning and fewer
as the pain reduces.
SAFETY OF OPIOIDS VS SMT FOR CHRONIC LOW BACK PAIN MEDICARE
PATIENTS
Cost is one thing. What about safety? A review
of patient files of Medicare beneficiaries aged 65 to 84 with chronic low back
pain for 5 years looked at the long-term safety of two usual
approaches to chronic low back pain: opioid
analgesic therapy and spinal manipulation therapy. The researchers studied
a few types of patient records: patients who only received
spinal manipulation, only took opioids, started with
opioids then underwent spinal manipulation, and started
with spinal manipulation then supplemented with opioids. What did
they discover? The risk of adverse drug events was substantially
higher – 42 times higher - for patients who started with opioid
therapy initially for their chronic back pain than those who began with spinal manipulation. (2) Chiropractic Care utilizes the
well research-documented, safe, gentle protocols of Cox® Technic.
ESCALATION OF CARE RISK FOR CHRONIC LOW BACK PAIN MEDICARE
PATIENTS
Research documents another key factor in
back pain treatment: how well does a treatment keep a patient from having to
undergo more complex treatment? A third review of
Medicare patient data studied the risk of escalated treatments – hospital stays, emergency room visits,
imaging, back surgery, pain med interventions, and other such encounters
for potential complications of chronic low back pain – in long-term
chronic low back pain care patients who began with opioid analgesic
therapy or spinal manipulation therapy. Commencing care with
spinal manipulation therapy was linked to lower
rates of escalation of care. The rate of escalated care encounters was 2.5 times
greatear for opioid treatment patients. (3) The use of
Cox® Technic at Chiropractic Care minimizes the need
for escalated care while carefully monitoring each patient for
indications that such may be helpful or needed.
CONTACT Chiropractic Care
Listen to this PODCAST
with Dr. Nike Taylor on The
Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as she discusses
treatment of chronic low back pain with the Cox® Technic Flexion
Distraction System of Spinal Pain Management.
Schedule your West Palm Beach
chiropractic appointment now. Whether the response
to the question of “what should I do about my back pain?” was opioid treatment
or other care, spinal manipulation at Chiropractic Care may well be your next (or
your initial if you are just beginning the search
for help) treatment that will get you the back pain
relief you are seeking in a cost-effective, safe way.