RI chiropractors support National Chiropractic Month’s Chiropractic First platform as a means to fight opioid addiction

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states that as many as one in four patients who receive prescription opioids long-term for non-cancer pain in primary care settings struggles with addiction. That perhaps explains why more than 1,000 people are treated daily in the ER for misusing prescription opioids. For this reason alone, the Chiropractic Society of Rhode Island has pledged its support for National Chiropractic Health Month’s theme and hash tag #Chiropractic1st.

“The best way kill pain is to prevent it from ever occurring. As far as preventive care goes, you won’t find anything more powerful than regular chiropractic treatments,” said Dr. Michael Gottfried, president of the Chiropractic Society of Rhode Island and chiropractic physician at Aquidneck Chiropractic in Middletown, Rhode Island. “The American Chiropractic Association’s month-long awareness campaign not only touts the health benefits of chiropractic but shines a light on the staggering toll of the opioid epidemic.”

Since 1999, deaths involving opioids have quadrupled. In 2014 alone, more than 14,000 people died from overdoses involving the drugs. Also in 2014, another two million people abused or were dependent on opioids.

“That’s the extreme of prescription pain drugs. What’s often overlooked by doctors prescribing and people taking prescription drugs for pain is that numbing the pain may convince a patient that their condition is less severe than it is or that it has healed. That can lead to them overdoing it and delaying the healing process or even causing re-injury or a new injury,” said Dr. Gottfried.

While the statistics regarding opioids are discouraging, there is evidence that more people have been turning to chiropractic first as a treatment for back pain. A recent Gallup report commissioned by Palmer College of Chiropractic revealed that 33.6 million U.S. adults (14 percent) seek chiropractic care each year. Three of the key highlights from that report include: Two-thirds (61 percent) of adult Americans believe chiropractors are effective at treating neck and back pain; The majority (57 percent) of adults are likely to see a chiropractor for neck or back pain; and more than 1/2 of all U.S. adults have visited a chiropractor, and more than 1/4 of them would choose chiropractic care first for back or neck pain.

“The beauty of chiropractic, beyond being all natural and without prescription medications, is that it’s been found to be beneficial for numerous conditions above and beyond neck and back pain,” said Dr. Gottfried. “Some of those include: headaches, asthma, osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, carpal tunnel, colic, and stress, just to name a few.”

 For a complete list of conditions treatable with chiropractic, visit www.richiro.org. For information about National Chiropractic Month, visit www.acatoday.org.

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