Chiropractic vs Opioids, for Initial Chronic Low Back Pain Treatment

Does it REALLY matter if you seek out chiropractic care or opioids as an initial treatment approach for your chronic low back pain? Turns out ... it does!

This study looked at the medical records of more than 28000 Medicare recipients (average age 73 years old) with chronic low back pain.

The researchers had the goal of seeing if it made a difference if the person sought out chiropractic care first or opioids first, specifically looking to see if one group experienced an escalation of care more frequently than the other group.

An "escalation of care" included things like being hospitalized, imaging like CT and MRI, invasive procedures, seeing a specialist, or surgery. Those who chose to begin their care with opioids were more likely to experience this escalation of care.

Of note is that those who chose the opioids to start with, were more likely to have a "lower socioeconomic status, higher comorbidity scores, and higher rates of depressive disorder and osteoarthritis of the hip and knee."

Perhaps unsurprisingly for those who have been to a chiropractor, but those who received opioids first for their chronic low back pain, were 2.5 times more likely to have an escalation of care encounter.

An added bonus ... "observational study of more than 6.6 million Medicare beneficiaries, which found that the adjusted risk of physical injury following a chiropractic office was much lower at 7 days than that following a visit to a primary care physician" ... always a good thing to decrease the risk of injury!

This is not medical advice, always ask a chiropractor if chiropractic care is appropriate for you, and your preferred healthcare provider before making dietary, supplement, or lifestyle changes

Source: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8581066/