Non-Drug Chiropractic Approach to Pain Relief

Foundation for Chiropractic Progress Responds to National Drug Epidemic: Non-Drug Chiropractic Approach to Pain Relief

CARMICHAEL, Calif. – November 10, 2015 – According to a recent article published by The Wall Street Journal, participants in the October WMUR Granite State Poll in New Hampshire ranked drug abuse as the most important issue in the 2016 presidential campaign – trumping job and economic matters for the first time in eight years. As issues surrounding overprescribing and abuse begin to dominate the conversation of presidential candidates, experts at the Foundation for Chiropractic Progress (F4CP), a not-for-profit organization dedicated to raising awareness about the value of chiropractic care, assert the need for evidence-based, drug-free options, including chiropractic care, to serve as a primary approach to pain relief.

“For years, the dangers associated with prescription opioid medications – which include misuse, abuse, addiction and/or fatality – continue to surface, yet the epidemic continues to sweep the nation,” states Sherry McAllister, DC, executive vice president, F4CP, who notes that more than 259 million painkiller prescriptions were written in 2012 – enough for every U.S. adult to have an individual bottle of pills. “As this epidemic gains attention at the national level, alternative pain management options, including chiropractic care, must be introduced to shift the public’s opinion on pain and opioid prescriptions.”

Today, there are more overdose-related deaths than motor vehicle accidents in the U.S., over half of which stem from prescription medications, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Additional research concludes that individuals who abuse prescription opioids are over 40 percent more likely to use heroin. Doctors of chiropractic (DCs), who have a minimum of seven years of higher education and clinical patient management, are specifically trained to diagnose, evaluate and provide appropriate care and rehabilitation to individuals suffering from acute and chronic pain, which can help to decrease or prevent the need for prescription opioid medications.

“The public must band together and create a unified movement to modify the patient care model around pain management,” says Dr. McAllister. “It is imperative for individuals to educate themselves on effective, non-pharmacological alternatives for pain relief to help prevent the risk of prescription drug addiction and the 46 overdose-related deaths per day in the U.S. that are a result.”

Today, health care quality organizations recognize the value of a conservative approach. Earlier this year, the Joint Commission, which certifies more than 20,000 health care organizations and programs in the U.S., including every major hospital, revised its pain management standard to include chiropractic services.

 

Foundation for Chiropractic Progress A not-for-profit organization, the Foundation for Chiropractic Progress aims to inform and educate the general public about the many benefits associated with chiropractic care. 

 

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