“What should I do about my back pain? It’s been going on for
so long.”
Sound familiar? Sure, it does! Layden Chiropractic knows
Plainville
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 choose. Recent research has looked at the cost,
safety, and risk of treatment escalation for patients who choose
spinal manipulation
first 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? An analysis of Medicare health expenses
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% began
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 expenses were 1.87
times greater for those same opioid patients. (1) Layden Chiropractic
follows a system of Plainville chiropractic treatment frequency guided
by the 50% Rule seeking 50% relief of pain within 30 days with more visits in the beginning and fewer
as the pain reduces.
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 looked at the long-term safety of two common
approaches to chronic low back pain: opioid
analgesic therapy and spinal manipulation therapy. The researchers considered
a variety of patient records: patients who only underwent
spinal manipulation, only received opioids, began with
opioids then underwent 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 initially for their chronic back pain than those who started with spinal manipulation. (2) Layden Chiropractic uses 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 studied the risk of escalated treatments – hospital stays, emergency room visits,
imaging, back surgery, pain med interventions, and other such encounters
for potential complications of chronic low back pain – in long-term
chronic low back pain care patients who started with opioid analgesic
therapy or spinal manipulation therapy. Starting care with
spinal manipulation therapy was linked to 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 Layden Chiropractic minimizes the requirement
for escalated care while cautiously monitoring each patient for
indications that such may be helpful or needed.
CONTACT Layden 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 Plainville
chiropractic appointment now. Whether the answer
to the question of “what should I do about my back pain?” was opioid treatment
or other care, spinal manipulation at Layden 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.