Opioids. Back Pain. Treatment Options. Chiropractic has a place
in managing and easing pain that should not be overlooked.
Primary care physicians do not
feel much confidence 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 Toronto chiropractor at Yorkville Chiropractic and Wellness Centre
treats many pain patients and eases a great deal of Toronto back pain often without opioids.
STATISTICS ON OPIOIDS FOR PAIN
These statistics are founded
on a huge study of 478,981 newly diagnosed, “opiate-naïve”
patients who begin utilizing opiates for pain relief. (2)
- 40.4% of pain patients accepted
opioid prescriptions initially 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
certainly to be prescribed opiates early in their pain cycle.
- Patients diagnosed first 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.
Yorkville Chiropractic and Wellness Centre invites pain patients to seek
Toronto 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 Yorkville Chiropractic and Wellness Centre confidently use
non-drug management and/or co-management with other healthcare
personnel for the pain relief and pain control for Toronto back
pain patients.
CHIROPRACTIC’S PLACE IN PAIN CARE
Yorkville Chiropractic and Wellness Centre speculates why
chiropractors aren’t more immediately thought of
in the process for Toronto pain relief, particularly
Toronto back pain relief. Chiropractic services include
spinal manipulation (one of the highest 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 believe
their medical doctor understands nutrition. (4) And that’s ok if
healthcare professionals coordinated care sharing their expertise, acknowledging that each
has a role 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 effects his/her treatment recommendations,
guidelines for Toronto back pain patient care are established
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 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) Yorkville Chiropractic and Wellness Centre collaborates with other
local Toronto healthcare providers for patient care, appreciating
their expertise and involvement in Toronto
back pain patients’ return to activities of daily living that make each day better.
CONTACT Yorkville Chiropractic and Wellness Centre
Schedule a Toronto chiropractic appointment with
Yorkville Chiropractic and Wellness Centre for interdisciplinary care of your pain. Your
Toronto chiropractor is ready and willing to
work with fellow Toronto healthcare providers and to give you options on how to manage your back pain beyond and/or
alongside opioid drug care.