Opioids. Back Pain. Treatment Options. Chiropractic has a place
in managing and relieving pain that should not be overlooked.
Primary care physicians aren’t very confident in 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 Severna Park chiropractor at Back And Neck Care Center
takes care of many pain patients and relieves plenty of Severna Park back pain often without opioids.
STATISTICS ON OPIOIDS FOR PAIN
These statistics are founded
on a large study of 478,981 newly diagnosed, “opiate-naïve”
patients who start utilizing opiates for pain relief. (2)
- 40.4% of pain patients accepted
opioid prescriptions initially within a 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 seek 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.
Back And Neck Care Center welcomes pain patients to seek
Severna Park 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 managing musculoskeletal and neuropathic
pain. (1) Chiropractors like yours at Back And Neck Care Center confidently offer
non-drug management and/or co-management with other providers for the pain relief and pain control for Severna Park back
pain patients.
CHIROPRACTIC’S PLACE IN PAIN CARE
Back And Neck Care Center speculates why
chiropractors are not more immediately considered
in the process for Severna Park pain relief, particularly
Severna Park 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 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 think
their medical doctor knows about nutrition. (4) And that is ok if
healthcare professionals collaborated sharing their expertise, acknowledging that each
offers value in the care of the pain patient and has the best welfare
of the patient at heart. Chiropractors have expertise 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 Severna Park back pain patient care are developed
in an attempt to use the expertise fully.
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 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) Back And Neck Care Center collaborates with other
local Severna Park healthcare providers for patient care, appreciating
their expertise and contribution to Severna Park
back pain patients’ return to activities that they like to do.
CONTACT Back And Neck Care Center
Schedule a Severna Park chiropractic appointment with
Back And Neck Care Center for interdisciplinary care of your pain. Your
Severna Park chiropractor is willing and able to
work with fellow Severna Park healthcare providers and to give you options on managing your back pain beyond and/or
alongside opioid drug care.