Prescriptions of Opioids Pre and Post Back Surgery for Carrolltown Back Pain, Chiropractic Care May Reduce Rxs and Pain
The use of opioid pain medication for pain has been a common treatment. Its use is a little too much so as medicine today is even attempting to scale back on its prescription. For back surgery patients, it has been quite common, both before and/or after back surgery. Though today the use of opioids is being less supported, many back pain sufferers find themselves with opioid prescriptions from their healthcare providers. Gormish Chiropractic & Rehabilitation would love to be the first healthcare provider Carrolltown back pain and neck pain patients see and truly embrace the opportunity to care for the post-surgical continued pain patients - with or without opioid prescriptions - who come to us with the same or returned pain in the same spinal area where their surgery was. We are have the skills to help.
BACK SURGERY OUTCOME PREDICTORS: # of Rx Prescribers and # of Rx Prescriptions
Very few rush into back surgery. Back pain sufferers often look for help from various healthcare providers before surgery is contemplated and/or scheduled. 66.9% of patients in a retrospective study of patients who had single-level fusion surgeries employed one or less opioid prescription prescribers before surgery while 33.1% had more than one opioid prescribers. The more pre-surgical opioid prescribers in a back surgery patient’s case was a predictor of greater improvement of post-surgical back pain. The more pre-surgical opioid prescriptions a patient had was a predictor for poorer surgical outcomes including worse improvement in back VAS pain scores, leg VAS pain scores, Oswestry Disability Index scores, and for more post-surgical opioid prescriptions, prescribers, and morphine milligram equivalents. An attention-getting and seemingly side point of the study was that if a nonoperative spine provider was involved in the case, a higher improvement in leg pain VAS scores was seen. (1) Chiropractic is a profession of nonoperative spine providers! We chiropractors are ready and well-trained to help contrain back pain before and after surgery and give patients an opportunity to reduce their opioid use for pain management.
CHIROPRACTIC POST-SURGICAL CARE AND OPIOID USE
For patients who underwent back surgery to find that they got the same pain in the back area that the surgery was supposed to relieve, the return of pain can be frustrating. Some got back the medical model and get new pain medication prescriptions or extended prescriptions for the post-surgery meds. Others seek chiropractic care. A recent study of such patients who sought chiropractic care with chiropractors who are certified in Cox® Technic spinal manipulation (manual spinal decompression manipulation) stated that of the 59 patients in the study, 11 came into the study with opioid medications. Eight of them self-reported that they lowered or quit their use. Three said they maintained their use. (2) This holds hope for many post-surgical continued pain patients that pain relief enough to not have to rely on medications may be possible]. Gormish Chiropractic & Rehabilitation is Carrolltown’s post-surgical back pain provider to see for Cox® Technic treatment.
CONTACT Gormish Chiropractic & Rehabilitation
Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. Marc Baker on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he shares his use of The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management in delivering relief for a military veteran with back pain after back surgery.
Make your Carrolltown chiropractic appointment today. If you have undergone back surgery - now using pain meds, opioids, or not - we look forward to seeing and helping you.
