Opioids. Back Pain. Treatment Options. Chiropractic has a role
in managing and easing pain that should not be overlooked.
Primary care physicians do not feel very confident treating
musculoskeletal pain. (1) Family practitioners are the leading
prescribers of opioids. (2) Meanwhile, who treats 40% of
pain patients? Chiropractors! (1) Your Sandy Springs chiropractor at Cross Chiropractic Center
sees many pain patients and relieves plenty of Sandy Springs back pain often exclusive of opioids.
STATISTICS ON OPIOIDS FOR PAIN
The following stats are based
on a large study of 478,981 recently diagnosed, “opiate-naïve”
patients who start utilizing opiates for pain relief. (2)
- 40.4% of pain patients accepted
opioid prescriptions for the first time 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
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.
Cross Chiropractic Center invites pain patients to seek
Sandy Springs chiropractic care sooner than later!
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 likely
physicians to feel confident treating musculoskeletal and neuropathic
pain. (1) Chiropractors like yours at Cross Chiropractic Center confidently use
non-drug management and/or co-management with other providers for the pain relief and pain control for Sandy Springs back
pain patients.
CHIROPRACTIC’S PLACE IN PAIN CARE
Cross Chiropractic Center ponders why
chiropractors are not more immediately thought of
in the process for Sandy Springs pain relief, particularly
Sandy Springs back pain relief. Chiropractic services incorporate
spinal manipulation (one of the highest 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 notes that patients believe
their medical doctor understands nutrition. (4) And that is fine if
healthcare professionals coordinated care along their
lines of expertise, recognizing that each
offers value 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 Sandy Springs back pain patient care are established
to try to use the expertise maximally.
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) Cross Chiropractic Center works with other
local Sandy Springs healthcare providers for patient care, valuing
their expertise and contribution to Sandy Springs
back pain patients’ return to activities of daily living that make each day better.
CONTACT Cross Chiropractic Center
Schedule a Sandy Springs chiropractic appointment with
Cross Chiropractic Center for interdisciplinary care of your pain. Your
Sandy Springs chiropractor is willing and able to
work with fellow Sandy Springs healthcare providers and to share
with you options on managing your back pain beyond and/or
alongside opioid drug care.