Effectiveness of Opioids for Pain Control is Questionable while Chiropractic Spinal Manipulation is Recommended

The opioid epidemic. It’s in the news. Nashua does not2 escape the opioid issue. Moriarty Chiropractic sees some Nashua chiropractic patients with Nashua back pain struggle with opioids that were, at one time, prescribed to assist them in coping with their back pain and now desire to be done with them. Moriarty Chiropractic gets it and is ready to help Nashua back pain sufferers get relief without opioid drugs. The effectiveness of opioid drugs for control of Nashua back pain is doubted while spinal manipulation such as offered at Moriarty Chiropractic is suggested.

WHY OPIOIDS FOR BACK PAIN

Low back pain overwhelms a back pain patient’s life. It’s no wonder that a back pain sufferer wants a pill to get rid of the pain, a Nashua back surgery to remove the pain’s cause now.  Sometimes it is not that easy: the pill may have unwelcome effects or the benefits may not last long enough; the surgery relief may not last or resulted in an unexpected outcome. Moriarty Chiropractic values the role of drugs for pain relief when needed, admires the part back surgery has in a Nashua back pain sufferer’s journey toward pain relief and a better quality of life. Moriarty Chiropractic also offers complementary care to those back pain relief options and, for some Nashua back pain sufferers, back surgery prevention in addition to post-back surgery rehab and Nashua back pain relief.

OPIOIDS’ ROLE IN BACK PAIN RELIEF

A recent Cochrane data review of randomized clinical trials on the effectiveness of opioids and other drugs for chronic low back pain concluded that the effectiveness is not very good. Opioids’ effects on pain reduction and function improvement are small to moderate and brief compared to placebo. The side effects, serious ones for those who use strong opioids for a long time, were usual. (1) Some patients respond better to drug therapies than others. Researchers found it hard to determine just how effective drugs like oxycodone and clobazam and imipramine will be for which chronic low back pain patient. (2) Moriarty Chiropractic figures out each Nashua back pain patient who seeks for Nashua chiropractic care and establishes the appropriate treatment plan to produce some back pain relief.

OPIOIDS AND BACK SURGERY

Patients opt for back surgery often for pain relief or a quick fix that will remove the need for pain control drugs. Researchers checked into this idea and found that many back pain sufferers who were prescribed opioids before surgery expected that surgery would fix the problem and not have to take opioids anymore. Reality shows that of 2491 adults who underwent lumbar fusion back surgery, 1045 used long-term opioids before surgery, and 1094 took opioids after surgery. Of the pre-operative opioid patients, 77.1% continued taking them long-term, 13.8% occasionally, and just 9.1% discontinued or took them short-term afterward. 34.4% continued with a lower dose, but 44.8% continued with a higher dose. Of those who did not take any opioids before back surgery, 12.8% became long-term users.  What was the end result? What do patients need to know who are considering Nashua back surgery as the final answer to their Nashua back pain? Lumbar fusion back surgery seldom ended the long-term opioid use and increased the risk of starting their use afterwards.  Patient expectations of pain reduction and opioid use reduction need to be reexamined. (3)

ALTERNATIVES TO OPIOIDS FOR BACK PAIN RELIEF

CONTACT Moriarty Chiropractic

Schedule you Nashua chiropractic appointment today with Moriarty Chiropractic. Opioids aren’t the only means to find Nashua back pain relief, particularly Nashua chronic low back pain. Moriarty Chiropractic offers optimism for chronic low back pain relief to Nashua back pain sufferers desiring a way to avoid or escape the opioid epidemic.