Poulin Chiropractic of Herndon and Ashburn Offers Options to Opioids for Pain Relief

Opioids. Back Pain. Treatment Options. Chiropractic has a role 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 Ashburn and Herndon chiropractor at Poulin Chiropractic of Herndon and Ashburn treats many pain patients and eases plenty of Ashburn and Herndon back pain often without opioids.

STATISTICS ON OPIOIDS FOR PAIN

The following stats are founded on a huge study of 478,981 freshly diagnosed, “opiate-naïve” patients who begin taking opiates for pain relief. (2)

• 40.4% of pain patients received 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 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 a higher risk of long-term opioid use by 6.7% and 3.4%, respectively.

Poulin Chiropractic of Herndon and Ashburn invites pain patients to seek Ashburn and Herndon chiropractic care first!

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 treating musculoskeletal and neuropathic pain. (1) Chiropractors like yours at Poulin Chiropractic of Herndon and Ashburn confidently use non-drug management and/or co-management with other healthcare personnel for the pain relief and pain control for Ashburn and Herndon back pain patients.

CHIROPRACTIC’S PLACE IN PAIN CARE

Poulin Chiropractic of Herndon and Ashburn ponders why chiropractors aren’t more immediately thought of in the process for Ashburn and Herndon pain relief, particularly Ashburn and Herndon back pain relief. Chiropractic services incorporate spinal manipulation (one of the top 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 believe their medical doctor knows about nutrition. (4) And that is ok 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 interest of the patient fundamentally. Chiropractors have expertise in non-surgical and non-drug care of pain, back pain, and spine pain.

COORDINATING CARE

Recognizing that a healthcare provider’s profession influences his/her treatment recommendations, guidelines for Ashburn and Herndon back pain patient care are developed to try to use the expertise maximally. 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) Poulin Chiropractic of Herndon and Ashburn collaborates with other local Ashburn and Herndon healthcare providers for patient care, valuing their expertise and contribution to Ashburn and Herndon back pain patients’ return to activities that they like to do.

CONTACT Poulin Chiropractic of Herndon and Ashburn

Schedule a Ashburn and Herndon chiropractic appointment with Poulin Chiropractic of Herndon and Ashburn for interdisciplinary care of your pain. Your Ashburn and Herndon chiropractor is willing and able to work with fellow Ashburn and Herndon healthcare providers and to share with you options on how to manage your back pain beyond and/or alongside opioid drug care.