Prescriptions of Opioids Pre and Post Back Surgery for Fernandina Beach Back Pain, Chiropractic Care May Reduce Rxs and Pain
Opioid use for pain has been a customary treatment. Its use is a little too much so as medicine today is even attempting to slow 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 encouraged, many back pain sufferers still receive opioid prescriptions from their healthcare providers. Amelia Chiropractic Clinic would love to be the first healthcare provider Fernandina Beach back pain and neck pain patients visit and truly welcome 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 they had surgery. We are ready to help.
BACK SURGERY OUTCOME PREDICTORS: # of Rx Prescribers and # of Rx Prescriptions
Very few hurry 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 experienced single-level fusion surgeries employed one or less opioid prescription prescribers before surgery while 33.1% employed 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 used 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 note to 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 prepared and well-trained to help control back pain before and after surgery and give patients an opportunity to lower their opioid use for pain management.
CHIROPRACTIC POST-SURGICAL CARE AND OPIOID USE
For patients who went through back surgery to find that they experience back pain in the same area that the surgery was supposed to fix, the return of pain can be vexing. 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 turned to 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 utilizing opioid medications. Eight of them self-reported that they lowered or discontinued their use. Three said they maintained their use. (2) This is hopeful for many post-surgical continued pain patients that not having to take pain meds as the only way to pain relief may be possible. Amelia Chiropractic Clinic is Fernandina Beach’s post-surgical back pain provider to visit for Cox® Technic treatment.
CONTACT Amelia Chiropractic Clinic
Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. Marc Baker on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he describes his use of The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management in delivering relief for a military veteran with back pain after back surgery.
Schedule your Fernandina Beach chiropractic appointment now. If you’ve undergone back surgery - now taking pain meds, opioids, or not - we are looking to seeing and helping you.
