Opioids. Back Pain. Treatment Options. Chiropractic has a role
in managing and relieving pain that should not be ignored.
Primary care physicians don’t 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 Eugene chiropractor at Rethwill Chiropractic Clinic
sees many pain patients and relieves a
lot of Eugene back pain often exclusive of opioids.
STATISTICS ON OPIOIDS FOR PAIN
These statistics are founded
on a large study of 478,981 recently diagnosed, “opiate-naïve”
patients who begin taking opiates for pain relief. (2)
- 40.4% of pain patients received
opioid prescriptions originally inside
the first 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 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 an increased risk of long-term opioid use by 6.7% and 3.4%, respectively.
Rethwill Chiropractic Clinic welcomes pain patients to seek
Eugene 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 probable
physicians to feel confident managing musculoskeletal and neuropathic
pain. (1) Chiropractors like yours at Rethwill Chiropractic Clinic confidently offer
non-drug management and/or co-management with other providers for the pain relief and pain control for Eugene back
pain patients.
CHIROPRACTIC’S PLACE IN PAIN CARE
Rethwill Chiropractic Clinic wonders why
chiropractors are not more readily considered
in the process for Eugene pain relief, particularly
Eugene 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 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 knows about nutrition. (4) And that is fine if
healthcare professionals coordinated care along their
lines of expertise, recognizing that each
has a role in the care of the pain patient and has the best interest
of the patient at heart. Chiropractors are
proficient in non-surgical and non-drug care of pain, back
pain, and spine pain.
COORDINATING CARE
Recognizing that a healthcare provider’s
profession effects his/her treatment recommendations,
guidelines for Eugene 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 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) Rethwill Chiropractic Clinic collaborates with other
local Eugene healthcare providers for patient care, appreciating
their expertise and involvement in Eugene
back pain patients’ return to activities that they like to do.
CONTACT Rethwill Chiropractic Clinic
Schedule a Eugene chiropractic appointment with
Rethwill Chiropractic Clinic for interdisciplinary care of your pain. Your
Eugene chiropractor is willing and able to
work with fellow Eugene healthcare providers and to give you options on how to manage your back pain beyond and/or
alongside opioid drug care.