Could chiropractic care play a part in addressing the opioid crisis? The opioid epidemic continues to devastate communities, particularly in the United States. I recently watched the HBO documentary Warning: This Drug May Kill You, a gripping and deeply unsettling look at the epidemic and its toll on countless lives, in which experts set out just how complex the problem is and where solutions might lie.
A promising finding
A study published in The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine offers some hope. It found that patients receiving chiropractic care for non-cancer low-back pain were 55 percent less likely to fill a prescription for an opioid painkiller than those who did not receive chiropractic care. The research was carried out in New Hampshire, a state with the second-highest age-adjusted rate of drug overdose deaths in the United States, which makes the finding all the more striking.
It does come with limits. The study drew on data from the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services, but it did not detail the specific treatments used, how often patients were seen, or other aspects of the care they received. It is tempting to speculate on why chiropractic care was linked to fewer opioid prescriptions, but without that detail, firm conclusions are not possible. What remains encouraging is the association itself: chiropractic care appears to go hand in hand with reduced opioid use.
Pain is more complex than cause and effect
Pain is far more intricate than a simple cause-and-effect relationship. It is shaped by personal health behaviours, social influences, environmental conditions and the broader determinants of health. As one expert in the documentary put it:
The preponderance of health outcomes result not from clinical interventions, but from personal health behaviours, as well as social and environmental determinants of health.
The influence of chiropractic care may also reach beyond spinal manipulation. Guidance on movement, activity and other practical, whole-person measures could all feed into the overall approach to pain. Without more research across different populations, though, how widely these findings apply remains uncertain.
A person-centred approach
Understanding pain means looking beyond the physical symptoms to the person: their lifestyle, their experiences, their beliefs and their overall wellbeing. Pain is multifaceted, and managing it well calls for an individual, compassionate approach. It is through that kind of whole-person care that chiropractic may help reduce reliance on opioids.
Final thoughts
More research is needed, but chiropractic care shows real potential in reducing opioid use, particularly for people with non-cancer low-back pain. By offering an alternative route to pain relief, it may help lower the reliance on opioid medication and contribute to a safer, more effective approach to managing pain.
If low-back pain is part of your life and you would rather not lean on medication to cope, book a visit and we will work out a plan together.
Original article: 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. J Altern Complement Med 2018:1-5. View on PubMed
