Opioids. Back Pain. Treatment Options. Chiropractic has a role
in managing and relieving pain that shouldn’t 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 treats 40% of
pain patients? Chiropractors! (1) Your Ashburn chiropractor at Poulin Chiropractic of Herndon and Ashburn
treats many pain patients and relieves a
lot of Ashburn back pain often with
no opioids.
STATISTICS ON OPIOIDS FOR PAIN
The following stats are based
on a large study of 478,981 recently diagnosed, “opiate-naïve”
patients who start taking opiates for pain relief. (2)
- 40.4% of pain patients accepted
opioid prescriptions originally inside
the first 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 an increased 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 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 treating musculoskeletal and neuropathic
pain. (1) Chiropractors like yours at Poulin Chiropractic of Herndon and Ashburn confidently offer
non-drug management and/or co-management with other providers for the pain relief and pain control for Ashburn back
pain patients.
CHIROPRACTIC’S PLACE IN PAIN CARE
Poulin Chiropractic of Herndon and Ashburn speculates why
chiropractors aren’t more immediately considered
in the process for Ashburn pain relief, particularly
Ashburn 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 notes that patients think
their medical doctor understands nutrition. (4) And that’s ok if
healthcare professionals coordinated care sharing their expertise, recognizing that each
has a role in the care of the pain patient and has the best interest
of the patient fundamentally. Chiropractors are well skilled 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 Ashburn back pain patient care are developed
in an attempt to apply the expertise maximally.
Interdisciplinary care challenges differences among professions and their
recommendation standards so that a patient gets 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 in line
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 healthcare providers for patient care, valuing
their expertise and involvement in Ashburn
back pain patients’ return to activities that they like to do.
CONTACT Poulin Chiropractic of Herndon and Ashburn
Schedule a Ashburn chiropractic appointment with
Poulin Chiropractic of Herndon and Ashburn for interdisciplinary care of your pain. Your
Ashburn chiropractor is willing and able to
work with fellow Ashburn healthcare providers and to give you options on how to manage your back pain beyond and/or
alongside opioid drug care.