“What should I do about my back pain? It’s been going on for
so long.”
Sound familiar? Sure, it does! OrthoIllinois Chiropractic knows
McHenry
back pain patients struggle with this question. There
are a variety of options – rest, exercise, meds, manipulation, chiropractic,
medicine, yoga, acupuncture, surgery, etc. – which makes it hard
to decide. Recent studies have looked at the cost,
safety, and risk of treatment escalation for patients who choose
spinal manipulation
initially versus those who choose opioid
analgesic treatment initially for their chronic low back pain. The results
are interesting.
COSTS OF OPIOID VS SMT FOR CHRONIC LOW BACK PAIN MEDICARE
PATIENTS
Chronic low back pain is a costly condition, but just how
costly is it? A review of Medicare health expenditures
for long-term care of chronic low back pain assessed the costs
of opioid analgesic treatment opposed to those for spinal manipulation
therapy. There were 28,160 participants aged 65-84 years old. 77% started
with opioid therapy for their chronic low back pain. 23% began
with SMT. The long-term costs for opioid-therapy patients were 58%
lower, but long-term overall healthcare expenditures were 1.87
times greater for those same opioid patients. (1) OrthoIllinois Chiropractic
follows a system of McHenry chiropractic treatment frequency guided
by the 50% Rule looking for 50% relief of pain within 30 days with more visits initially and fewer
as the pain decreases.
SAFETY OF OPIOIDS VS SMT FOR CHRONIC LOW BACK PAIN MEDICARE
PATIENTS
Cost is one thing. What about safety? An analysis
of patient files of Medicare beneficiaries aged 65 to 84 with chronic low back
pain for 5 years studied the long-term safety of two common
treatment options for chronic low back pain: opioid
analgesic therapy and spinal manipulation therapy. The researchers considered
a few types of patient records: patients who only received
spinal manipulation, only took opioids, began with
opioids then had spinal manipulation, and started
with spinal manipulation then supplemented with opioids. What did
they discover? The risk of adverse drug events was quite a bit
higher – 42 times higher - for patients who began with opioid
therapy first for their chronic back pain than those who started with spinal manipulation. (2) OrthoIllinois Chiropractic utilizes the
well research-documented, safe, gentle protocols of Cox® Technic.
ESCALATION OF CARE RISK FOR CHRONIC LOW BACK PAIN MEDICARE
PATIENTS
Research documents another important factor in
back pain treatment: how well does a treatment help the patient avoid more complex treatment? A third review of
Medicare patient data looked at
escalation of care risk – hospital stays, emergency room visits,
imaging, back surgery, pain med interventions, and other such encounters
for possible complications of chronic low back pain – in long-term
chronic low back pain care patients who began with opioid analgesic
therapy or spinal manipulation therapy. Commencing care with
spinal manipulation therapy was associated with reduced
rates of escalation of care. The rate of escalated care encounters was 2.5 times
greatear for opioid treatment patients. (3) The use of
Cox® Technic at OrthoIllinois Chiropractic minimizes the requirement
for escalated care while carefully monitoring each patient for
any signs that such may be helpful or needed.
CONTACT OrthoIllinois Chiropractic
Listen to this PODCAST
with Dr. Nike Taylor on The
Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as she describes
treatment of chronic low back pain via the Cox® Technic Flexion
Distraction System of Spinal Pain Management.
Make your McHenry
chiropractic appointment now. Whether the response
to the question of “what should I do about my back pain?” was opioid treatment
or other care, spinal manipulation at OrthoIllinois Chiropractic may well be your next (or
your initial if you are just starting the search
for help) treatment that will get you the back pain
relief you want in a cost-effective, safe way.