Drug-free pain management

September is “Drug-Free Pain Management Awareness Month.”

This month has been designated by the Society for Healthcare Strategy and the American Hospital Association to promote the use of non-addictive methods of dealing with pain.

Opiates kill people, they impair people; opiates cause people to be arrested, and they destroy families. With the alarming percentage of American adults using opioids, I want to bring attention to opiate-impaired drivers being as dangerous to themselves and others, as alcohol or marijuana-impaired drivers.

To be more scientific, let me address that the pain pathway that opiates interrupt is also the pathway that spinal adjustments interrupt, but without the addiction and adverse outcomes.

The goal is to touch every American with the message and knowledge that chiropractic is a safer strategy than opioids, such as oxycodone and hydrocodone.

Imagine chiropractic care as a pain management option at hospitals nationwide. Not as far-fetched as you might think! The Joint Commission, which currently evaluates and accredits more than 21,000 health care organizations and programs throughout the U.S. – including 90% of all U.S. hospitals – has now issued revised pain assessment and management standards. The revised standards, effective January 1, 2018, require the commission’s accredited hospitals to “provide non-pharmacologic pain treatment modalities” such as chiropractic, as a necessary performance element.

This is a significant shift in thinking, in that hospitals are acknowledging the abuse of opioids, and that surgery is not always the best option, particularly when it comes to treating muscoloskeletal problems. Chiropractic has always been drug-free, and always will be.