OPIOID EPIDEMIC

Pain Management and the Opioid Crisis Discussed by our San Jose Chiropractor, Dr. Ebadat

For many chronic pain patients, opioid medications like OxyContin have been the only available form of treatment. It's true that opioids have provided relief to many, but they have also fueled a nationwide addiction crisis. While prescription levels are starting to drop as more doctors become aware of the problem, there are still enough willing to write prescriptions for increasing strengths that excessive opioid use looks set to continue. If you have pain and are worried about having to use opioids to control it, you do have another option. At South Bay Wellness Center & Chiropractic in San Jose, CA, we offer chiropractic treatments for pain that can help soothe discomfort without the use of drugs.

How Opioid Dependence Began
Pain was recognized as a major problem in the 1990s. Prior to that, pain was not taken as seriously as it is now, so medication rates were not as high. When the medical establishment changed how it viewed pain, opioids, which were already prescribed in some forms, became the treatment of choice. Key to this change was an old journal letter from 1980 from two researchers who had looked at addiction rates in people receiving opioids who did not already have a history of addiction. The researchers found only four cases of addiction in a large sample, and this letter became the basis for much of the support for opioid use to control pain.

The problem was that the researchers had looked at acute cases, not chronic cases. They did not look at people who had taken opioids constantly for a long time. So while the researchers meant well, their results were grossly misinterpreted, opioids were overprescribed, and now the country is in the middle of an opioid epidemic.

Drug-Free Treatment for Pain Management with our San Jose Chiropractor Is an Option
If you are experiencing pain but are afraid to see a doctor, lest they decide opioids are a quick and easy fix, contact us today. Call South Bay Wellness Center & Chiropractic in San Jose, CA, at (408) 642-6060. Dr. Ebadat, our experienced and caring chiropractor in San Jose, will work with you to create a treatment plan that brings you back to a state of health without having to resort to opioid medications.