Opioids. Back Pain. Treatment Options. Chiropractic has a role
in managing and easing pain that should not be ignored.
Primary care physicians are not very confident in 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 La Grande chiropractor at Paulette Hugulet, DC, LLC
takes care of many pain patients and relieves a
lot of La Grande back pain often exclusive of opioids.
STATISTICS ON OPIOIDS FOR PAIN
These statistics are founded
on a large study of 478,981 recently diagnosed, “opiate-naïve”
patients who start utilizing opiates for pain relief. (2)
- 40.4% of pain patients obtained
opioid prescriptions for the first time within a year of pain while 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.
Paulette Hugulet, DC, LLC welcomes pain patients to seek
La Grande 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 managing musculoskeletal and neuropathic
pain. (1) Chiropractors like yours at Paulette Hugulet, DC, LLC confidently offer
non-drug management and/or co-management with other providers for the pain relief and pain control for La Grande back
pain patients.
CHIROPRACTIC’S PLACE IN PAIN CARE
Paulette Hugulet, DC, LLC wonders why
chiropractors are not more immediately considered
in the process for La Grande pain relief, particularly
La Grande back pain relief. Chiropractic services include
spinal manipulation (one of the top recommended forms
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 shares that patients believe
their medical doctor knows about 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 welfare
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 effects his/her treatment recommendations,
guidelines for La Grande back pain patient care are established
to try to apply the expertise fully.
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 vary by profession though: nurses were more restrictive in
their recommendations of activity; physicians were more consistent
with guidelines; physiotherapists recommended much more activity but less work
activity than physicians. (5) Paulette Hugulet, DC, LLC works with other
local La Grande healthcare providers for patient care, appreciating
their expertise and involvement in La Grande
back pain patients’ return to activities of daily living that make each day better.
CONTACT Paulette Hugulet, DC, LLC
Schedule a La Grande chiropractic appointment with
Paulette Hugulet, DC, LLC for interdisciplinary care of your pain. Your
La Grande chiropractor is ready and willing to
work with fellow La Grande healthcare providers and to share
with you options on managing your back pain beyond and/or
alongside opioid drug care.