Chiropractors have an opportunity this month through social media, e-newsletters and other patient outreach to spread the message of Drug-free Pain Management Awareness Month.
Statistics include:
- The U.S. is on pace to officially surpass a record-breaking 90,000 opioid deaths in 2020
- In December 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a press release linking the significant mental health and economic disruption caused by COVID-19 to a record 81,000 deaths between May 2019 and May 2020
- Harmful medication-related incidents occurred 42 times more often in senior patients who were first prescribed opioids as opposed to patients who first received spinal manipulative therapy
- Patients with spinal pain who saw a chiropractor had half the risk of filling an opioid prescription
- We are losing 136 people a day from opioid overdoses
- The total economic burden of prescription opioid misuse alone in the U.S. is estimated around $78.5 billion a year
- An estimated 80% of all Americans will experience some form of back pain during their lifetime
- The Bulletin of the World Health Organization (WHO) published recommendations to manage low back pain initially with non-pharmaceutical interventions, such as spinal manipulation (chiropractic adjustments), while avoiding opioids, spinal injections and surgery
The states of Ohio, Alaska, Vermont and Florida have proclaimed September as Drug-free Pain Management Awareness Month, and Attorney General Ashley Moody signed the Florida resolution at FCA’s The National during the F4CP’s Pre-Conference Symposium, Dose of Reality.
You can also contact your local legislative body (board of supervisor or city council) requesting a proclamation in your city/town/state to designate September as Drug-Free Pain Management Awareness Month. To download a template letter click here or for more resources click here.
