Prescriptions of Opioids Pre and Post Back Surgery for West Des Moines Back Pain, Chiropractic Care May Reduce Rxs and Pain
The use of opioid pain medication for pain has been a customary treatment. Its use is a little too common as medicine today is even trying 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 encouraged, many back pain sufferers still receive opioid prescriptions from their healthcare providers. Executive Chiropractic of Iowa would love to be the first healthcare provider West Des Moines back pain and neck pain patients see and truly welcome the opportunity to take care of 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 ready to help.
BACK SURGERY OUTCOME PREDICTORS: # of Rx Prescribers and # of Rx Prescriptions
Very few hurry into back surgery. Back pain sufferers often seek care from various healthcare providers before surgery is considered 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 increased 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 greater 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 a chance 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 experience back pain in the same 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 prolonged 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 reduced or discontinued their use. Three said they continued their use. (2) This holds hope for many post-surgical continued pain patients that not having to take pain meds as the only means to pain relief may be possible. Executive Chiropractic of Iowa is West Des Moines’s post-surgical back pain provider to see for Cox® Technic treatment.
CONTACT Executive Chiropractic of Iowa
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 West Des Moines chiropractic appointment soon. If you have had back surgery - now taking pain meds, opioids, or not - we look forward to working with you.
