Jeff LangmaidFounder, The Evidence Based Chiropractor

Chiropractic vs Ibuprofen: Shocking Opioid Risk Study

29 Oct 2025 · 1 min

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A study compared opioid addiction rates between patients who got chiropractic care first versus ibuprofen for pain. Chiropractic patients had a 0.24% addiction rate versus over 1.5% for ibuprofen users, making them 80% less likely to develop opioid use disorder.

Questions this video answers

0.24% ("about a quarter of a percent").

Over 1.5% (spoken as "over 1.5% of people in the ibuprofen group").

Speaker states a "risk ratio of .020" and summarizes this as chiropractic patients being "80% less likely" to develop opioid use disorder.

Chapters

Opioid use disorders. About a quarter of a percent, 0.24% of patients in the chiropractic group versus over 1.5% of people in the ibuprofen group went on to develop opioid use disorder. So you went from over 1.5% if you took an ibuprofen. If you're taking ibuprofen right off the bat, it is a 1.5% chance you are going to end up with an opioid use disorder down the road. That's not an insignificant percentage. That's wild to me. That's like over one out of every 10 people. If you received Chiropractic Care First SMT Group, it was literally, you know, less than one quarter out of one person out of 10, a quarter percent. So that's a risk ratio of.020, meaning chiropractic patients were 80% less likely. Let me say that again, 80% less likely to develop an opioid use disorder. Does it matter who you see first in this care algorithm? It absolutely does.