Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka Offers Options to Opioids for Pain Relief

Opioids. Back Pain. Treatment Options. Chiropractic has a place in managing and easing pain that shouldn’t be overlooked. Primary care physicians are not very confident in 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 Sitka chiropractor at Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka treats many pain patients and eases a lot of Sitka back pain often with no opioids.

STATISTICS ON OPIOIDS FOR PAIN

The following stats are founded 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 obtained opioid prescriptions initially 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.

Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka welcomes pain patients to seek Sitka chiropractic care sooner than later!

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 likely physicians to feel confident managing musculoskeletal and neuropathic pain. (1) Chiropractors like yours at Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka confidently use non-drug management and/or co-management with other providers for the pain relief and pain control for Sitka back pain patients.

CHIROPRACTIC’S PLACE IN PAIN CARE

Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka wonders why chiropractors are not more immediately thought of in the process for Sitka pain relief, especially Sitka back pain relief. Chiropractic services include 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 ok if healthcare professionals coordinated care along their lines of expertise, recognizing that each offers value in the care of the pain patient and has the best interest of the patient at heart. Chiropractors are well skilled 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 Sitka 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 receives 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 aligned with guidelines; physiotherapists recommended much more activity but less work activity than physicians. (5) Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka collaborates with other local Sitka healthcare providers for patient care, valuing their expertise and contribution to Sitka back pain patients’ return to activities of daily living that make each day more pleasant.

CONTACT Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka

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