Opioids. Back Pain. Treatment Options. Chiropractic has a place
in managing and relieving pain that should not be overlooked.
Primary care physicians don’t
feel much confidence 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 Sitka chiropractor at Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka
treats many pain patients and relieves a
lot of Sitka back pain often with
no opioids.
STATISTICS ON OPIOIDS FOR PAIN
The following stats 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 obtained
opioid prescriptions initially 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 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 a
higher risk of long-term opioid use by 6.7% and 3.4%, respectively.
Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka welcomes pain patients to seek
Sitka chiropractic care first!
PHYSICIANS WHO TREAT PAIN
Primary care physicians (52%), pain physicians (2%),
chiropractors (40%), acupuncturists (7%) doctor
chronic pain patients. Primary care physicians are the least probable
physicians to feel confident managing musculoskeletal and neuropathic
pain. (1) Chiropractors like yours at Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka confidently use
non-drug management and/or co-management with other providers for the pain relief and pain control for Sitka back
pain patients.
CHIROPRACTIC’S PLACE IN PAIN CARE
Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka ponders why
chiropractors are not more immediately thought of
in the process for Sitka pain relief, especially
Sitka back pain relief. Chiropractic services incorporate
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 think
their medical doctor knows about nutrition. (4) And that’s fine if
healthcare professionals collaborated along their
lines of expertise, acknowledging that each
offers value in the care of the pain patient and has the best welfare
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 influences his/her treatment recommendations,
guidelines for Sitka back pain patient care are established
in an attempt to apply 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 in line
with guidelines; physiotherapists recommended much more activity but less work
activity than physicians. (5) Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka collaborates with other
local Sitka healthcare providers for patient care, appreciating
their expertise and contribution to Sitka
back pain patients’ return to activities of daily living that make each day more
pleasant.
CONTACT Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka
Schedule a Sitka chiropractic appointment with
Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka for interdisciplinary care of your pain. Your
Sitka chiropractor is ready and willing to
work with fellow Sitka healthcare providers and to give you options on how to manage your back pain beyond and/or
alongside opioid drug care.