Author: Randy Briesacher

Beyond the Pill: Non-Opioid Care for Chronic Pain

If you’re dealing with chronic pain, now is the time to tackle it naturally. But how do you deal with chronic pain without using opioid pain medication?

One of the problems with pain medications is that they only treat the symptoms; they aren’t doing anything to resolve the source of your pain. If you are looking for a long-term solution, the cause needs to be addressed. Altered biomechanics, or movement patterns, tend to be a common issue for many people dealing with chronic spine pain.

To get things moving on the path toward relief, we have found a lot of success with a plan that typically encourages:

• Whole Body Movement with Daily Exercise

It may seem impossible to get out and get active when dealing with chronic pain, but it may help you see some relief from your symptoms! For example, if you’re dealing with chronic back pain, regular walks can help relieve the stiffness and soreness of back pain.

• Specific Spinal Joint Movement with Chiropractic Adjustments

Chiropractors are an excellent resource for anyone who is dealing with chronic pain. New research has shown chiropractic care is at least as effective at relieving pain as many medications, without the risks or dangers associated with drugs. The likelihood of filling an opioid prescription is reduced by over 50% for people who see a chiropractor.

Next Steps:

You don’t need to keep struggling with chronic pain. Researchers have found that chiropractic care and active exercise can effectively reduce your symptoms and address the cause. If you or someone you know has struggled with chronic pain, please reach out to us today so that we can help provide you with options for relief that don’t include the dangerous medications that have created the current opioid epidemic.

Opiates vs. Opioids: What’s the Difference?

Opioids and opiates have caused millions of people looking for pain relief to enter a cycle of addiction. The scary part is that many people dying from opioids aren’t recreational drug users looking for the next high; they were people prescribed these drugs by their doctors to treat chronic pain.

To understand how this epidemic has happened, it’s essential to understand the differences between opioids and opiates.

Opiates describe drugs derived from the flowering opium poppy plant. Morphine is an example of an opiate. These drugs have been linked to physical dependence, increased tolerance, and addiction.

Opioids are synthetic or made in a lab. When opioid receptors in the brain become activated, they produce feelings of pleasure and pain. All opioid drugs act on these receptors. Some are up to 50 times more powerful than heroin. Opioid drugs used to treat pain include oxycodone and hydrocodone. These drugs are highly addictive and dangerous. Oxycodone exhibits the highest risk of abuse and poses the most significant dangers. It affects the nervous system in the same way as heroin.

• Opioids can have a negative impact on your emotions, breathing, digestion, and movement. • Fentanyl, a pain-relieving opioid, is 100 times more potent than morphine.

• Opioids are highly addictive and not meant to be used for chronic pain.

Current medical guidelines no longer recommend using opioids for most spinal pain. If you’re struggling with pain, movement based care such as chiropractic is often the best way to accelerate the healing process and put yourself in a position for long term relief. Call us today if you want to explore a relief path that doesn’t include medications.

The Chronic Pain Crisis is the Opioid Crisis

For decades, opioids were marketed as a “safer” alternative to treat chronic pain. And as the number of people with chronic pain began to rise, so did the number of people addicted to and dying from prescription opioids. The chronic pain epidemic has evolved into our current opioid crisis.

To address the opioid crisis, we must first find non-pharmacological solutions to the chronic pain epidemic. Over the past few years, major healthcare agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have recognized that non-pharmacological approaches should be the first line of care to manage chronic pain.

New studies have indicated that there is a reason to be hopeful. Non-drug care options, such as chiropractic, are very effective at helping people reduce pain. Even people with severe chronic pain have benefited from the care that chiropractors can provide.

• Chronic low back pain will affect up to 20% of people over 18 years old. • Cooperation between your Medical Doctor and Chiropractor can help provide the best results. • Chiropractic care has been shown to provide better outcomes than care in a pain clinic.

The change in approach to a primarily non-pharmacological-based approach to care is unprecedented in healthcare. We can’t undo the damage that has been done. But, we can learn from the past and work together to overcome chronic pain with safe and effective care to relieve your pain without the dangerous side effects and addiction issues we’ve experienced with opioid medications. Our practice is proud to partner with other healthcare providers supporting a natural pain management approach.

The Opioid Crisis: How Did We End Up Here?

About 30 years ago, there was a fundamental shift in medicine regarding how pain was understood and treated. The number of people with chronic pain seemed to rise, and it was thought that the options to address the pain weren’t adequate.

As doctors paid more attention to assessing pain, they also paid more attention to treating pain. Opioid medication was prescribed more frequently for chronic lower back or neck pain. Until then, opioids were only prescribed for severe pain after surgery or advanced-stage cancer. But, in the early 1990s, it all changed. New opioid formulas were promoted as less addictive, and physicians were encouraged to prescribe these drugs far more liberally than before.

Prescribing these drugs very quickly led to a variety of problems. First, patients rapidly adapted to the drugs, requiring larger and larger doses to achieve the same effect over time. Second, these drugs weren’t very effective at addressing chronic pain. They provided short-term relief but became less useful for many people as time passed. Finally, these drugs provided a euphoric feeling that quickly led to addiction. • Starting in the 1990’s, doctors were encouraged to prescribe opioids for chronic pain.

• 59% of opioid users report having experienced back pain.

• In the US alone, we have averaged over 130 deaths per day due to opioids.

Now, decades later, we are consumed with the opioid crisis. Over 130 people die daily from opioids, and over 40% are from prescribed opioids. If there is a silver lining to this crisis, we now realize that the answers and treatment of chronic pain are rarely found in a bottle. Many leading healthcare organizations are now recommending non-pharmacological approaches to treating chronic pain- including chiropractic. If you want to explore a drug-free approach to pain relief, schedule an appointment with us today.

Your Body is Designed to Move

Your body is built to move. Every spinal disc and joint is designed to help you sit, stand, run, and move! Your discs are soft enough to flex as you bend forward and back, the spinal facet joints slide as you turn and twist, and the spinal bones are connected with ligaments that keep you supported as your muscles push and pull. It’s an incredibly strong and resilient system when you stop and think about it.

New research has begun to give us a glimpse of just how important movement is in our lives. For example, spine movement has now been shown to stimulate and accelerate the healing process. Movement is so crucial in the healing process that even people who have spine surgery are encouraged to get up and move as quickly as possible after surgery.

• All of the bones, muscles, ligaments, and joints of your spine are designed to support
  daily movement.

  • Blood flow, strength, and flexibility are all enhanced through movement.

  • Movement of the individual segments of your spine can affect how you heal.

Next Steps:

I believe encouraging healthy movement and activity is part of my job as your chiropractor. If you have any questions about stretches, exercises, or other ways to proactively stay healthy, ask. There is an old saying, “You don’t get old then stiff; you get stiff then old.” We want to help you stay young by helping you keep your spine and body moving. Stay proactive with your health by ensuring you have your next appointment scheduled!

The Brain + Spine Connection

Every thought and movement occurs through your brain or spinal cord, commonly known as the central nervous system. Your spinal column acts as the protection and pathway for your spinal cord to travel down and then split into the nerves that reach every cell of your body. Every moment, millions of messages are moving along your spinal cord to maintain the delicate balance between your brain and body.

Chiropractic adjustments can alter biochemical markers in your brain. New research has shown that the type of movement during a chiropractic adjustment can change the chemistry of your brain. These changes can result in everything from endorphin release (a feel-good hormone) to pain relief, and emerging research has even indicated increased strength (or cortical drive) after an adjustment.

• Your brain and body are in constant communication through your central and peripheral nervous system.

  • The spinal cord can send information to your brain at over 250 mph!

  • Chiropractic adjustments to your neck or back have been shown to influence brain function, resulting in pain relief, endorphin release, and more.

  Over the past 100 years, scientists and doctors have learned much about the brain/body connection, but we still have a long way to go. Aging, healing, and your entire life experience happen through the communication and coordination of your brain and body. Keeping your brain and body engaged and moving each day can help support a healthy life. If you’ve struggled to stay active due to pain, schedule an evaluation with us today.

Disc Issues and Chiropractic

Disc herniations, bulges, protrusions, and extrusions are the most common reasons people visit a chiropractor. Come to think of it, most people see a chiropractor not just because they have a disc issue but because the disc issue has caused a significant impact on their quality of life. Exciting new research has begun to showcase what we have witnessed for years: how chiropractic care provides outstanding results for people with spinal disc issues.

Specific chiropractic techniques are thought to influence the pressure in your spinal discs. Emerging research has shown that movement, reducing intra-discal stress, and opening up the channels your nerves pass through can improve how you feel and accelerate the healing process.

• Keeping your core muscles strong and flexible can decrease your likelihood of suffering a disc bulge or herniation.

• Research has shown spinal adjustments to be very effective at reducing pain caused by disc bulges and herniations.

• Spinal adjustments were found to be more effective than spinal injections for treating
disc issues.

Your body has an incredible ability to heal without drugs or surgery, even from disc herniations. A recent study showcased that people with an MRI-confirmed disc herniation received better results with chiropractic adjustments than injections. If you have an MRI that shows a disc issue, it does NOT mean that surgery or injections are your only options. If you have a disc issue slowing you down, call us today to discover a natural way to find relief.

Facet Joints: Gliding Your Way to Better Health

If you’ve had neck or back pain that you could put a finger on, or sharp pain when moving, it may be due to facet joints of your spine. It’s easy to think of your facet joints as the knuckles of your spine. They are small joints with a capsule and cartilage pad that glide and slide, allowing your spine and body to move.

As you go through life and your spinal discs undergo the aging process, your facet joints take on the extra load. Unfortunately, this excess stress and pressure can wear down your facet joints, resulting in the beginning of the degenerative process, which can cause adhesions, restricted motion, bone spurs, and pain.

• The facet joints of your spine slide and glide as you move.
  • Restrictions or adhesions in the facets can occur with age and injury.
  • Spinal adjustments help the facet joints move freely and decrease painful restrictions.

The facet joints of your spine thrive on movement. Movement helps them stay healthy and may even slow down the degenerative process. Spinal adjustments have been shown to reduce adhesions of the facet joints, allowing you to move more freely with less pain. We believe that when you are moving better, you are feeling better, and we’re proud to be a part of the healthcare team that helps you stay active!

Headaches Every Day? Read This…

Life can be busy and stressful. Sound familiar? If so, you may be more likely to develop headaches that become more frequent and severe. It could be related to a lack of quality sleep, nutritional challenges, or even postural issues contributing to a vicious cycle of daily headaches. These chronic headaches are a good indication that your body needs attention.

Daily headaches are a signal from your body that something needs to change. Depending on the foods you eat, the stress in your life, and how you move your body and spine can increase or decrease the likelihood of experiencing headaches. While researchers have struggled to place an exact cause on every type of headache, they have discovered various risk factors that can lead to chronic headaches.

• Your brain doesn’t have any nerve fibers that transmit pain signals. Headaches are felt by the tissues that support your brain, head, and neck.
• Researchers have discovered a close link between what you eat, your stress, and hormone levels, and how that can impact your chances of developing chronic headaches.
• A balanced diet, consistent sleeping patterns, and chiropractic care have all been shown to decrease the likelihood of developing chronic headaches.

Next Steps:

Daily headaches aren’t something you “have to live with.” Top research publications have found chiropractic care provides 50% more relief to headaches without the risky side effects typically associated with drugs and medications. To learn more, tune into our weekly video series, Research That Matters TV.

How to Find Natural Relief from Headaches

Finding natural relief for your headaches doesn’t mean you must join a food co-op and start eating granola with every meal. Many leading healthcare organizations now recommend natural or organic healthcare solutions because of the reduced dangerous side effects, high patient satisfaction, and fantastic treatment results.

Three of the most effective natural solutions for headaches include magnesium, chiropractic care, and B vitamins. Low levels of magnesium have been linked to migraine headaches. Taking a magnesium supplement can reduce the occurrence of migraine headaches without any of the side effects typically associated with painkillers. B vitamins are a powerful natural way to reduce stress and improve mood. If stress is a significant factor in your headaches- B vitamins may be a natural fit for relief. Finally, postural changes and muscle tension are the leading causes of migraine headaches. Chiropractic care has been shown to help reduce headaches’ frequency, severity, and duration. That’s what I call a winning trifecta!

• Magnesium: Low levels of magnesium have been reported as a risk factor for
  migraine headaches.
• Chiropractic: Researchers have discovered a reduction in the frequency, severity, and duration of headaches for individuals under chiropractic care.
• B-Vitamins: These powerful vitamins have the potential to help reduce stress and improve mood, which are essential factors when finding relief from headaches

As you can see, finding natural relief from headaches can be easy. What would your life look like if you could reduce or eliminate chronic headaches?