Statistics from the Centers from Disease Control and Prevention show 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. In addition, a recent poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation revealed that nearly 50 percent of Americans say they personally have known someone who is addicted to prescription painkillers.

Dr. Kathryn Webb and Dr. Eric Jablonski along with their entire team at Action Medical Center are joining chiropractic physicians nationwide this October during National Chiropractic Health Month to help raise awareness of non-drug approaches to pain management in the face of the U.S. opioid epidemic. The campaign promotes the use of alternative therapies for pain, such as chiropractic services, before turning to opioids and other riskier treatments.

“Chiropractic care is recognized as an effective treatment for many types of pain," says Dr. Webb. “Patients need to be aware there are alternatives to potentially addictive drugs for the treatment of both episodic and chronic pain.”

Many of our nation’s top health care organizations now recommend non-drug treatments. For example, CDC’s new Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain encourages medical doctors to utilize non-pharmacologic conservative care and to consider non-addictive alternative options. The United States Surgeon General recently asked doctors nationwide to join him to turn the tide on opioid use in the United States by treating pain safely and effectively while recognizing addiction as the chronic illness that it is. Using treatments such as spinal manipulation, chiropractic physicians take a drug-free approach to treating common conditions such as back pain, neck pain and other musculoskeletal disorders. High-quality research has found spinal manipulation to be effective and safe.