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 very confident treating musculoskeletal pain. (1) Family practitioners are the largest prescribers of opioids. (2) Meanwhile, who treats 40% of pain patients? Chiropractors! (1) Your Southern New Hampshire chiropractor at New Hampshire Spine and Sport treats many pain patients and eases a great deal of Southern New Hampshire back pain often with no opioids.
STATISTICS ON OPIOIDS FOR PAIN
The following stats are based 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 initially 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 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.
New Hampshire Spine and Sport invites pain patients to seek Southern New Hampshire chiropractic care first!
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 New Hampshire Spine and Sport confidently offer non-drug management and/or co-management with other healthcare personnel for the pain relief and pain control for Southern New Hampshire back pain patients.
CHIROPRACTIC’S PLACE IN PAIN CARE
New Hampshire Spine and Sport speculates why chiropractors aren’t more immediately thought of in the process for Southern New Hampshire pain relief, especially Southern New Hampshire back pain relief. Chiropractic services include 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 understands nutrition. (4) And that is fine if healthcare professionals coordinated care sharing their expertise, recognizing that each offers value in the care of the pain patient and has the best interest of the patient fundamentally. 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 Southern New Hampshire back pain patient care are established to try to utilize the expertise fully. Interdisciplinary care challenges differences among professions and their recommendation standards so that a patient receives 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 aligned with guidelines; physiotherapists recommended much more activity but less work activity than physicians. (5) New Hampshire Spine and Sport collaborates with other local Southern New Hampshire healthcare providers for patient care, appreciating their expertise and involvement in Southern New Hampshire back pain patients’ return to activities of daily living that make each day better.
CONTACT New Hampshire Spine and Sport
Schedule a Southern New Hampshire chiropractic appointment with New Hampshire Spine and Sport for interdisciplinary care of your pain. Your Southern New Hampshire chiropractor is willing and able to work with fellow Southern New Hampshire healthcare providers and to give you options on how to manage your back pain beyond and/or alongside opioid drug care.