Many prescription opioids are recommended for low back, neck, and musculoskeletal pain management—the exact areas chiropractic primarily targets. In fact, chiropractic has proven itself as an ideal solution for prescription-free, evidence-based care for back pain management that yields improved clinical outcomes, reduced costs, and high levels of patient satisfaction.
A recently-published study in The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine shows that adults receiving treatment for low back pain are 55 percent less likely to fill a prescription for an opioid if they are receiving chiropractic care.
Alongside the opioid epidemic is another growing health crisis—addiction to commonly prescribed benzodiazepines, which are responsible for 30 percent of prescription overdose deaths each year. An industry study conducted in 2012 found that 94 million prescriptions for benzodiazepines were filled annually in the United States and the number of prescriptions being written each year is increasing.