We’ve discussed this topic before, but it bears repeating to some degree because we are still living in an age of rampant opioid use and addiction. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, 115 Americans die from opiate overdoses each day (about 43,000 a year), and we spend about $78 billion on the total costs of opiate abuse.¹ 

A recent study in the American Journal of Psychiatry found that 36% of people who died from opioid overdoses were first given a narcotic because they had back pain. This is tragic because we at Chattanooga Integrated Medicine Center know, back pain and joint pain can be treated without need for prescription drugs and in many cases even eliminate the need for surgery (a reason many end up on opioids).

Chiropractic takes a different approach to pain by working to help the body repair itself and the root cause of the problem rather than simply masking the symptoms. Pills don’t repair injuries or damaged tissue; they simply stop the brain from processing the pain, not fixing the root problem. If the source isn’t treated and the normal function isn’t restored to the body, the pain will immediately return.

What’s the proof doc? A 2018 study³ found that chiropractic patients had a 55% lower chance of using opioids than did medical patients. Another study² from 2016 found that in areas where there are more chiropractors per capita, younger, disabled individuals were less likely to obtain an opioid prescription.

Come see us today if you are in pain. We have multiple approaches, treatments, and ample knowledge to not only keep you out of pain, but keep you off prescription medications that do more harm than good.

423-499-0003

#bestinchattanooga

1. Lisi AJ, Corcoran KL, DeRycke EC, Bastian LA, Becker WC, Edmond SN, Goertz CM, Goulet JL, Haskell SG, Higgins DM, Kawecki T, Kerns RD, Mattocks K, Ramsey C, Ruser CB, Brandt CA. Opioid Use Among Veterans of Recent Wars Receiving Veterans Affairs Chiropractic Care. Pain Medicine 2018 Sep 1;19(suppl_1):S54-S60. doi: 10.1093/pm/pny114. PubMed PMID: 30203014.
2. Weeks WB, Goertz CM. Cross-sectional analysis of per capita supply of doctors of chiropractic and opioid use in younger medicare beneficiaries. Journal of Manipulative & Physiological Therapeutics 2016;39(4):263-6.
3. Whedon JM, Toler AWJ, Goehl JM, Kazal LA. Association Between Utilization of Chiropractic Services for Treatment of Low-Back Pain and Use of Prescription Opioids. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine 2018; Feb 22. doi: 10.1089/acm.2017.0131.