New Study: Chiropractic Care Cuts Opioid Use by Over 50% | Podcast Ep. 221

Foreign hello and welcome to the Evidence Based Chiropractor. I AM your host, Dr. Jeff Langmaid. On this week's episode, we are back to the research. I am holding it in my hands and it is hot off the presses. We are talking opioids and chiropractic. This was literally just released last week in pain medicine and we're going to dive into its implications, why it matters to your practice and how it can guide the conversations you're having with the people in your community. This is going to be a great episode. We are talking opioids, we are talking chiropractic care, and we are talking about a paper that is changing the game. And I have seen it all over the Internet and people sharing it. I'm going to say you should not only be sharing it, you should be giving your take on it. Your voice behind this data is critically important. So let's talk about what the researchers found, how you can frame it in a way that's true, that's ethical, and also some takeaways on how you can utilize this to in my opinion, I don't think I'm overstating it, literally save the lives of people in your community. When we see over 130 deaths each and every day due to opioids and we see a majority of those individuals started taking opioids as a result of a musculoskeletal issue and or chronic pain, and we also know that chiropractic does a great job taking care of those individuals. It is not a stretch, it is not extrapolation to say you being able to turn somebody on to what you do as a chiropractor. Literally at these numbers and at this scale, there is chiropractors every day that are literally saving lives. So that's the broad context, but let's get into some of the nitty gritty. So drug overdose deaths in 2017 increased by almost 10% over 2016, with opioids accounting for almost 48,000 of those cases. These are just unbelievably startling numbers. We also know that among US adults prescribed opioids, 59% of those people have back pain. So of all those people prescribed opioids, which is a lot of people, unfortunately, over half, 59% of those individuals reported having back pain. This is a very, very, very big deal because so many people now are being exposed to opioid medications or have been exposed to opioid medications as a result of chronic pain, as a result of spinal pain and or back pain. And that really was not the original development. The original development was post surgical or advanced stage cancer. But as time went on in I guess the 80s and 90s, ultimately really the rules regarding those prescriptions became far more lax and they started being used not just post surgically and not just for advanced stage cancer issues, but also for chronic pain. And we've seen that they are highly ineffective and highly addictive and that is a big deal. And that tide has turned so heavily, we see the lawsuits on television, we see so many things coming to fruition about it, that organizations such as the American College of Physicians now have taken a stand. They've been forced into it to a certain degree to recommend to all of their providers, which is hundreds of thousands of doctors just in the United States alone, that non pharmacological treatment should be a first line approach and consideration for opioids is a last option. It is a absolute last option. Other organizations have stood up and said forget Even opioids before NSAIDs, non pharmacological means for treatment should be be sought. This is important because that's where the tide starts to turn. And this is where your message doesn't become just your opinion, but it's really evidence informed and it's in line with the guidelines that some of the largest healthcare organizations are promoting at this point in time. So also in 2018, study of national health insurance claims, this was New Hampshire specifically found a 55% reduction in the likelihood of opioid prescriptions for people who saw chiropractors as opposed to those who did not. So that was interesting, right? 2018, couple years back, 55%. I remember when it came out, 55% reduction in the likelihood of fulfilling an opioid prescription was great. But I think the challenge with that paper was it was kind of New Hampshire specific. So the question was, is there a regional bias there? Is this something that holds true nationwide? That is exactly what this paper that we're talking about today sought to answer. And if I didn't read the title, I apologize, I'm gonna read it one more time just cause I'm not 100% sure I did. Impact of Chiropractic care on the use of Prescription Opioids in Patients with Spinal Pain. I'll also link this of course in the show notes so you can check it out. So what they found ultimately was very much in line with the New Hampshire paper. They found that individuals who received chiropractic care or saw a chiropractor who were far less likely to fill or use an opioid than Those who didn't, and I'll read their conclusion right here. Quote. Among patients with spinal pain disorders, for recipients of chiropractic care, the risk of filling a prescription for an opioid analgesic over a six year period was reduced by half as compared with non recipients. Among those who saw a chiropractor within 30 days of being diagnosed with a spine pain disorder, the reduction in risk was greater as compared to those who visited a chiropractor and after the acute phase had passed. So what are some takeaways there? There's quite a few as a matter of fact. Number one is we see again that half that 50% plus reduction in the likelihood of filling an opioid based upon seeing a chiropractor. That's really important. It's not only the fact, well, clearly we can't prescribe opioids, but it's also the fact that individuals are getting good results with their care. That's the only rational reason is the fact of, number one, we're not pulling out the prescription PA because by scope we can't. So there's an inherent benefit there. The second benefit is if what we were doing just didn't work whatsoever, people would be going back to the same. Well, but what we're seeing in the research and in the literature is that's not the case at all. People are getting fantastic results, they're getting their life back, they're having benefits functionally. And that really is a game changer. That is that life saving component. When somebody's able to get back to doing the things they love with the people they love, when they're able to get back, get back to the lifestyle that they had before the episode or before the chronicity of pain, that's a really big deal. That changes mental attitude. It just, it changes the game in people's lives. So don't lose sight of that. There is a component of this that is just such a big deal. And really the subset of this that I think is so, so important is this was over a six year period. This was not. Okay, well, they didn't feel an opioid today, but tomorrow they did. No way. This is a longitudinal study, as far as I'm concerned. When they're finding that over a six year period, that's incredible because we also know low back pain. Spinal pain by definition is episodic in nature, but it is a condition that can last a lifetime. So there'll be episodes that kind of perk up or peak up from time to time. But the Condition has to be managed throughout time. It's not something that is quote, unquote, quote cured with a single treatment modality. It's something that needs to be mitigated. It's something that needs to be paid attention to. And we know this because it's how you move your body, it's how you're thinking, it's what you're engaging with, it's what you're putting into your body. All those things play such a huge role, right? Inflammation, trauma, et cetera, that doesn't stop at any point in time. We live our lives and those things are always potentials. So my point of this being is that a six year period is incredibly long and there is duration. And also one other key point that they pointed out was that if somebody sees a chiropractor within 30 days, there is a reduction in risk that's greater than those who did not. So it's really about tying everything together. It's tying together the guidelines saying, hey, before any medications are given, somebody should seek all these. Individuals with spinal pain, musculoskeletal issues, barring red flags, should see non pharmacological providers first. Well, we know as chiropractors we are probably the best providers for them to see. So then the question becomes, are you getting out there and telling that story? And I mean this in two ways. If providers don't know who you are or why or how they should refer into your practice, then you are going to miss out on a massive amount of individuals, an overwhelming amount of individuals. Right? We know historically that chiropractic utilization sits around 15%. We know 90 plus percent of the population sees medical providers. So there's a huge gap there. It's what I call the gap of opportunity. But you have to be taking action. If you're passively waiting for these people to come into your practice, you are going to miss the boat and you're gonna miss your opportunity to help people and your practice is gonna suffer for it. But if you get out there and proactively build relationships with other healthcare providers, enable them, give them the tools, give them the resources, give them the education, give them that little bit of push to refer patients into your practice, everybody will be better for it. So I'd encourage you, if you are not actively building growing and developing relationships, then please join us. Become a member at the evidence based chiropractor. There was recently a poll I saw on a chiropractic group saying, well, which piece of marketing are you most interested in developing? Are you struggling with the most. And MD marketing was number one. There are tools and resources out there. If you're listening to this podcast, we are one of them. So if you want to build and grow your referral network, become a member at the evidence based chiropractor. Number two on that list, incidentally, as far as marketing was concerned, was social media marketing, content marketing. And that is exactly what we do at the Smart Chiropractor. You probably saw, you know, we've been talking about it quite a bit lately. We have some really exciting things on the agenda. But if you want to automate your content marketing, head on over to thesmartchiropractor.com we have a month, our April month is actually devoted 100% to opioids. We are tackling this head on. We are giving all of our docs, video scripts, we're giving them social posts, we're giving them blog posts, we're giving them done for them videos, we're getting them patient handouts, you name it, it is part of the toolkit. And April is Opioid month. So this paper coming out is just so critically timely that if this message of the podcast resonates with you, if you think you could be helping more people who have struggled with chronic pain, and chronic pain, by the way, doesn't mean who are just geriatrics and old. There are plenty of young people out there, plenty of fitness people out there that struggle with chronic pain. And many of those individuals are very likely. They have a strong predilection to start taking medications. I don't believe that's the way they need to go. I don't believe that's the way they have to go. But I do know for a fact that unless you get out there and tell your story consistently across multiple media platforms and it is going to be difficult to get the traction you need to build and grow your practice and to make the impact that you want in your community. So if you want to automate your social, if you want to automate your email, if you want to automate some of your in office marketing, it's automated content marketing. It's all happening at the Smart Chiropractor. But take some of those facts that we dove into today, take some of those tidbits, share them with the people in your community. Make sure that you continue to tell the story of who you are and what you do. We'll keep our eyes out for more and more papers just like this that really push forward who we are and what we do as a drugless profession who we are and what we do as an alternative to some of the craziness that's gone on in our healthcare system over the past few decades. You keep up the great work. If we can help guide your journey from a marketing standpoint, visit us at the Evidence Based Chiropractor or the Smart Chiropractor. Have a great week in practice and I will talk to you soon.

Thank you for joining us on this episode of the Evidence Based on Chiropractor. If you want to grow your practice, come back for next week's episode. If you want to grow faster, Visit the evidence basedchiropractor.com and join our MD Marketing membership today.