As much as 80% of the population will experience a back problem at some time in their lives. Rubin Dl. Epidemiology and Risk Factors for Spine Pain. Neurol Clin. 2007; May;25(2):353-71
Opioids are the most commonly prescribed drug class for back pain. No research supports the use of opioids for acute back pain and opioids don’t show benefit over a placebo for chronic back pain. British Medical Journal: http://www.bmj.com
80% of heroin addicts started with a reliance on prescribed pain medications.
New England Journal of Medicine: www.nejm.org
Ohio leads the nation with the most opioid and drug overdose deaths, with 2,106 killed in 2014, and the trend is worsening. Kaiser Family Foundation: http://kff.org
FDA, CDC, IOM have recommended the use of non-drug treatment for pain before opioids. http://ohiochiro.org
Governor’s Cabinet Opiate Action Team released guidelines for acute pain management:
“Non-pharmacologic therapies should be considered as first-line therapy for acute pain…” (ice, heat, exercise, massage, acupuncture/acupressure, chiropractic adjustment…) http://mha.ohio.gov
The American College of Physicians updated medical guidelines for back pain based on the latest research. Chiropractic and non-drug treatments were recommended as a first line approach for acute and chronic back pain (rather than medication). http://annals.org
A study examining very large Medicare datasets found that in geographic locations with more doctors of chiropractic providing spinal manipulation, there were fewer patients taking opioid drugs. JMPT: http://www.jmptonline.org/article/S0161-4754(16)00063-4/abstract
Analysis of New Hampshire All Payer Claims Database of roughly 33,000 adults registered as having low back pain. Likelihood of filling a prescription for an opioid analgesic was 57 percent lower in the chiropractic-using population.” https://www.integrativepractitioner.com/whats-new/news-and-commentary/researcher-finds-patients-seeing-chiropractors-use-fewer-opioids-drugs/
Health care providers are ignoring/unaware of updated medical treatment guidelines and payer coverage conflicts with these guidelines. Ohio is stuck in an outdated model of medicine first, non-drug treatments last. Ohioans and businesses pay the price as evidenced by overdose deaths and never-ending premium increases.
BWC has a systemic bias that prefers and promotes surgery, meds, and opioids over non-drug treatment like chiropractic. This results in higher costs and work loss for employers, and greater pain and disability for injured workers. One Ohio IW dies weekly due to drugs. Stat from 2014 BWC Healthcare Summit and 2012 Greater Cleveland Safety Council
Ohio Medicaid plans restrict non-drug treatments like chiropractic and don’t reimburse Chiropractic Physicians for diagnostic exams, resulting in emphasis of medication and surgery for pain.
Private insurance plans ignore provider non-discrimination laws, and continue to inappropriately restrict non-drug treatment in favor of higher cost and higher risk medications and surgery. (The few plans that avoid inappropriate restrictions on chiropractic show significant cost savings. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17509435 )
Opioid antidote medication prices have increased 95-500% in the past couple years. http://www.f4cp.com/files/industry-news/f4cp-opioids-2.0-white-paper-web.pdf