This is the last part of a six-part series on alternative medicine. New to the series? Start with part one.
Most primary care physicians aren’t comfortable treating chronic pain, according to the 2017 Opioid Therapy Provider survey. Yet most people run straight to their primary care doctor when they’re in pain.
The conventional treatment for a pain case is a muscle relaxer plus an anti-inflammatory, says Dr. Edward Leonard, with Florida Wellness Medical Group, and “if it doesn’t go away in four to six weeks, I’ll see you then.” What happens then, you ask? Then you get a narcotic — an opioid drug.
Sometimes these drugs are totally necessary, like with severe arthritis in the elderly, says Palm-Harbor based Dr. Margaret Amanti. But sometimes they’re not.
“In the last two years we’ve actually lowered our life expectancy due to opioid drugs,” says Leonard. “We’re the only western nation in the world who that happened to. The average person requires probably five or six stints in rehab to actually break an opioid addiction. Forty-five percent of opioid overdoses are physician-prescribed. So it’s a doctor problem, and it’s literally lowering our national life expectancy compared to the rest of the world… because people aren’t seeking out alternatives.”
A 2013 study in the journal Spine suggests that if you initially go to a chiropractor instead of a surgeon for a work-related back injury, your chances of “needing” surgery drop from about 42.7 percent down to 1.5 percent.
A 2004 study in the Archives of Internal Medicine showed that individuals with chiropractic coverage were 32 percent less likely to have surgery for back pain compared to individuals without chiropractic coverage.
Add these studies up and it’s starting to look like chiropractic treatment might be the best option for dealing with chronic back pain. This all ties back to opioids, which are often prescribed post-surgery to reduce patient pain and discomfort. If you can avoid the surgery, you can often avoid the opioids.
There are plenty of evidence-based ways to manage pain without resorting to opioids — these include chiropractic, osteopathic manipulation, acupuncture, and massage. All four are listed among the most effective integrative techniques in a 2017 Mayo Clinic/Time Inc. publication, Mayo Clinic Natural Healing. Chiropractic and osteopathic manipulation are listed as being particularly effective for neck and back pain, while massage provides a combination of relaxation and pain relief from muscle tightness and injury. Acupuncture helps with a wide variety of pain, from the head down to the knees, and maybe even more — some say it works by releasing the body’s natural opioids, thus avoiding the need for synthetic opioids in some patients.
The alternatives are out there. The time has come for us to start thoughtfully considering them, especially when it comes to our pain and our diets. I’m not talking about shunning conventional medicine; I’m talking about finding ways for alternative and conventional medicine to work together for optimal health.
Jen Ring discovered her love of writing through the lens of a brand new camera. When she’s not taking photographs, she’s writing about taking photographs and other fun things to do in the Tampa Bay area. Check out her Photographer’s Notebook for photography tips, tricks, and pics, and subscribe to her newsletter to follow her other adventures.
This article appears in May 31 – Jun 7, 2018.