Prescription opioid use and addiction has reached an all-time high. Based on information derived from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), one person – out of every four – that is prescribed opioids for the purpose and intent of managing their pain becomes addicted to the medications and struggles immensely with that addiction.

Each and every single day, in excess of over 1,000 individuals are seen and treated in emergency rooms across the nation for the misuse of these potentially dangerous prescriptions.

Since the year of 1999, deaths from opioids have – literally – quadrupled. Individuals that take opioids for pain management may become addicted, may overdose, and may be led to believe that the condition in which they suffer is not as severe or that the medications are healing them.

This is far from the truth. Those that realize the devastation that may be experienced when taking opioids are now turning to chiropractic care to manage their pain.

The Non-Drug Approach is the Best Approach

Chiropractic care is considered to be a conservative, non-drug and highly productive approach to pain management. In the year of 2017, the group known as the American College of Physicians (ACP) released an update stating that non-drug treatments for pain that are considered to be non-invasive should be used prior to prescribing any type of drug therapy.

The approaches that are considered to be the most successful for pain management includes heat therapy, spinal manipulation, and acupuncture. Prescriptions opioids carry such a high risk for addiction and the possibility of overdosing that the risks associated with the medication far outweighs any type of benefit experienced by the patient.

Chiropractic care – on the other hand – is considered the best non-drug approach to pain management.

Opioid Overdoses

Every day, there are 115 people or more that die as a result of either an intentional or unintentional overdose on opioids. These include – but, are not at all limited to – fentanyl, heroin, and opioid-based prescription medications that are created to treat and alleviate pain. In fact, overdoses on opioids are so prevalent that it is considered to be a national crisis within the United States.

In response, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is now placing an emphasis on the following:

1. They are trying to improve the access of a patient to services that help in treating and recovering from opioid adduction.
2. They are encouraging practitioners to utilize drugs that reverse the effects of opioid overdoses.
3. They are screening the public and releasing information on the prevalence of the epidemic and any health-related information associated with taking opioids.
4. They are providing support for the research on determining what helps in pain management and opioid addiction.
5. They are advancing practices and medical disciplines that help with pain management – such as chiropractic care.

A chiropractic office in Augusta, Georgia is taking great strides in treating pain among patients. The chiropractic care offered is more than just direct spinal and muscle manipulation. It is a strategy that helps patients learn how to manage their pain without the use of potentially dangerous drugs.

If you are a pain sufferer, you may contact this office today to learn about the various ways to avoid utilizing opioids to manage that pain: https://chiropractic4augusta.com/contact-chiropractic-augusta/