“What should I do about my back pain? It’s been going on for
so long.”
Sound familiar? Sure, it does! Johnson Chiropractic knows
Richmond
back pain patients wrestle with this question. There
are many options – rest, exercise, meds, manipulation, chiropractic,
medicine, yoga, acupuncture, surgery, etc. – which makes it difficult
to choose. Recent studies have looked at the cost,
safety, and risk of treatment escalation for patients who choose
spinal manipulation
first versus those who choose opioid
analgesic treatment first for their chronic low back pain. The findings
are thought-provoking.
COSTS OF OPIOID VS SMT FOR CHRONIC LOW BACK PAIN MEDICARE
PATIENTS
Chronic low back pain is a costly condition, but just how
costly is it? An analysis of Medicare health spendings
for long-term care of chronic low back pain compared the costs
of opioid analgesic treatment opposed to those for spinal manipulation
therapy. There were 28,160 participants aged 65-84 years old. 77% began
with opioid therapy for their chronic low back pain. 23% started
with SMT. The long-term expenses for opioid-therapy patients were 58%
lower, but long-term overall healthcare expenditures were 1.87
times greater for those same opioid patients. (1) Johnson Chiropractic
follows a system of Richmond chiropractic treatment frequency guided
by the 50% Rule seeking 50% relief of pain within a
month with more visits in the beginning and less
as the pain decreases.
SAFETY OF OPIOIDS VS SMT FOR CHRONIC LOW BACK PAIN MEDICARE
PATIENTS
Cost is one thing. What about safety? A review
of patient files of Medicare beneficiaries aged 65 to 84 with chronic low back
pain for 5 years looked at the long-term safety of two usual
approaches to chronic low back pain: opioid
analgesic therapy and spinal manipulation therapy. The researchers studied
a variety of patient records: patients who only received
spinal manipulation, only received opioids, started with
opioids then had spinal manipulation, and began
with spinal manipulation then supplemented with opioids. What did
they discover? The risk of adverse drug events was quite a bit
higher – 42 times higher - for patients who started with opioid
therapy initially for their chronic back pain than those who started with spinal manipulation. (2) Johnson Chiropractic uses the
well research-documented, safe, gentle protocols of Cox® Technic.
ESCALATION OF CARE RISK FOR CHRONIC LOW BACK PAIN MEDICARE
PATIENTS
Research documents another key factor in
back pain treatment: how well does a treatment keep a patient from having to
undergo more complex treatment? A third review of
Medicare patient data studied the risk of escalated treatments – hospital stays, emergency room visits,
imaging, back surgery, pain med interventions, and other such encounters
for possible complications of chronic low back pain – in long-term
chronic low back pain care patients who started with opioid analgesic
therapy or spinal manipulation therapy. Starting care with
spinal manipulation therapy was linked to lower
rates of escalation of care. The rate of escalated care encounters was 2.5 times
higher for opioid care patients. (3) The use of
Cox® Technic at Johnson Chiropractic minimizes the requirement
for escalated care while cautiously monitoring each patient for
any signs that such may be helpful or needed.
CONTACT Johnson Chiropractic
Listen to this PODCAST
with Dr. Nike Taylor on The
Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as she discusses
treatment of chronic low back pain with the Cox® Technic Flexion
Distraction System of Spinal Pain Management.
Schedule your Richmond
chiropractic appointment now. Whether the response
to the question of “what should I do about my back pain?” was opioid treatment
or other care, spinal manipulation at Johnson Chiropractic may well be your next (or
your first if you are just beginning the search
for help) treatment that will get you the back pain
relief you are seeking in a cost-effective, safe way.