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 largest
prescribers of opioids. (2) Meanwhile, who takes care of 40% of
pain patients? Chiropractors! (1) Your Minster chiropractor at Minster Chiropractic Center
sees many pain patients and eases a great deal of Minster back pain often with
no opioids.
STATISTICS ON OPIOIDS FOR PAIN
These statistics are founded
on a huge 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 originally within a year of pain while 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 seek 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 initially 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.
Minster Chiropractic Center invites pain patients to seek
Minster chiropractic care sooner than later!
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 Minster Chiropractic Center confidently use
non-drug management and/or co-management with other healthcare
personnel for the pain relief and pain control for Minster back
pain patients.
CHIROPRACTIC’S PLACE IN PAIN CARE
Minster Chiropractic Center ponders why
chiropractors aren’t more readily considered
in the process for Minster pain relief, especially
Minster back pain relief. Chiropractic services intergrate
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 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 believe
their medical doctor knows about nutrition. (4) And that’s ok if
healthcare professionals collaborated sharing their expertise, acknowledging that each
has a role in the care of the pain patient and has the best interest
of the patient at heart. 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 Minster back pain patient care are developed
to try to apply the expertise maximally.
Interdisciplinary care challenges differences among professions and their
recommendation standards so that a patient receives a consistent
therapy message with current treatment guidelines. Activity messages
do differ 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) Minster Chiropractic Center collaborates with other
local Minster healthcare providers for patient care, valuing
their expertise and involvement in Minster
back pain patients’ return to activities of daily living that make each day better.
CONTACT Minster Chiropractic Center
Schedule a Minster chiropractic appointment with
Minster Chiropractic Center for interdisciplinary care of your pain. Your
Minster chiropractor is ready and willing to
work with fellow Minster healthcare providers and to offer you options on how to manage your back pain beyond and/or
alongside opioid drug care.