Opioids. Back Pain. Treatment Options. Chiropractic has a role
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 leading
prescribers of opioids. (2) Meanwhile, who takes care of 40% of
pain patients? Chiropractors! (1) Your Richmond chiropractor at Johnson Chiropractic
treats many pain patients and relieves a great deal of Richmond back pain often exclusive of opioids.
STATISTICS ON OPIOIDS FOR PAIN
These statistics are based
on a large study of 478,981 recently 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 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.
Johnson Chiropractic welcomes pain patients to seek
Richmond 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 probable
physicians to feel confident treating musculoskeletal and neuropathic
pain. (1) Chiropractors like yours at Johnson Chiropractic confidently use
non-drug management and/or co-management with other healthcare
personnel for the pain relief and pain control for Richmond back
pain patients.
CHIROPRACTIC’S PLACE IN PAIN CARE
Johnson Chiropractic wonders why
chiropractors aren’t more readily thought of
in the process for Richmond pain relief, especially
Richmond 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 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 notes that patients believe
their medical doctor knows about nutrition. (4) And that is fine if
healthcare professionals collaborated sharing their expertise, acknowledging that each
offers value in the care of the pain patient and has the best welfare
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 Richmond back pain patient care are developed
in an attempt to utilize the expertise maximally.
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 differ 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) Johnson Chiropractic works with other
local Richmond healthcare providers for patient care, appreciating
their expertise and involvement in Richmond
back pain patients’ return to activities of daily living that make each day more
pleasant.
CONTACT Johnson Chiropractic
Schedule a Richmond chiropractic appointment with
Johnson Chiropractic for interdisciplinary care of your pain. Your
Richmond chiropractor is ready and willing to
work with fellow Richmond healthcare providers and to offer you options on how to manage your back pain beyond and/or
alongside opioid drug care.