Opioids. Back Pain. Treatment Options. Chiropractic has a place
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 largest
prescribers of opioids. (2) Meanwhile, who takes care of 40% of
pain patients? Chiropractors! (1) Your Pflugerville chiropractor at Pflugerville Wellness Center
sees many pain patients and eases a
lot of Pflugerville back pain often with
no opioids.
STATISTICS ON OPIOIDS FOR PAIN
These statistics are based
on a large study of 478,981 freshly diagnosed, “opiate-naïve”
patients who start taking opiates for pain relief. (2)
- 40.4% of pain patients accepted
opioid prescriptions for the first time within a year of pain but 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 likely 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.
Pflugerville Wellness Center invites pain patients to seek
Pflugerville 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 treating musculoskeletal and neuropathic
pain. (1) Chiropractors like yours at Pflugerville Wellness Center confidently use
non-drug management and/or co-management with other healthcare
personnel for the pain relief and pain control for Pflugerville back
pain patients.
CHIROPRACTIC’S PLACE IN PAIN CARE
Pflugerville Wellness Center wonders why
chiropractors are not more readily thought of
in the process for Pflugerville pain relief, particularly
Pflugerville back pain relief. Chiropractic services incorporate
spinal manipulation (one of the highest recommended forms
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 think
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
Knowing that a healthcare provider’s
profession influences his/her treatment recommendations,
guidelines for Pflugerville back pain patient care are developed
to try to utilize the expertise maximally.
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) Pflugerville Wellness Center works with other
local Pflugerville healthcare providers for patient care, appreciating
their expertise and involvement in Pflugerville
back pain patients’ return to activities that they like to do.
CONTACT Pflugerville Wellness Center
Schedule a Pflugerville chiropractic appointment with
Pflugerville Wellness Center for interdisciplinary care of your pain. Your
Pflugerville chiropractor is willing and able to
work with fellow Pflugerville healthcare providers and to share
with you options on managing your back pain beyond and/or
alongside opioid drug care.