Opioids. Back Pain. Treatment Options. Chiropractic has a place
in managing and relieving pain that shouldn’t 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 treats 40% of
pain patients? Chiropractors! (1) Your Vancouver chiropractor at Vancouver Disc Centers
treats many pain patients and eases a good deal of Vancouver 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 obtained
opioid prescriptions originally within a 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 an increased risk of long-term opioid use by 6.7% and 3.4%, respectively.
Vancouver Disc Centers invites pain patients to seek
Vancouver chiropractic care sooner than later!
PHYSICIANS WHO TREAT PAIN
Primary care physicians (52%), pain physicians (2%),
chiropractors (40%), acupuncturists (7%) care for
chronic pain patients. Primary care physicians are the least likely
physicians to feel confident managing musculoskeletal and neuropathic
pain. (1) Chiropractors like yours at Vancouver Disc Centers confidently offer
non-drug management and/or co-management with other healthcare
personnel for the pain relief and pain control for Vancouver back
pain patients.
CHIROPRACTIC’S PLACE IN PAIN CARE
Vancouver Disc Centers ponders why
chiropractors aren’t more readily thought of
in the process for Vancouver pain relief, particularly
Vancouver back pain relief. Chiropractic services include
spinal manipulation (one of the top recommended types
of care for back pain by the American Pain Society and the American College of
Physicians (3)), exercise, and nutrition. What prevents 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 believe
their medical doctor knows about nutrition. (4) And that’s ok if
healthcare professionals coordinated care sharing their expertise, recognizing that each
has a role in the care of the pain patient and has the best interest
of the patient at heart. Chiropractors are
proficient in non-surgical and non-drug care of pain, back
pain, and spine pain.
COORDINATING CARE
Recognizing that a healthcare provider’s
profession effects his/her treatment recommendations,
guidelines for Vancouver back pain patient care are developed
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 consistent
with guidelines; physiotherapists recommended much more activity but less work
activity than physicians. (5) Vancouver Disc Centers works with other
local Vancouver healthcare providers for patient care, appreciating
their expertise and contribution to Vancouver
back pain patients’ return to activities of daily living that make each day more
pleasant.
CONTACT Vancouver Disc Centers
Schedule a Vancouver chiropractic appointment with
Vancouver Disc Centers for interdisciplinary care of your pain. Your
Vancouver chiropractor is ready and willing to
work with fellow Vancouver healthcare providers and to offer you options on managing your back pain beyond and/or
alongside opioid drug care.