Many people who are treating chronic pain after car accidents or who have had serious injuries often find aid in pain management by medication. However, there has been a widespread opioid epidemic that has swept across the United States within the last 10 years. The CDC reported that over 2 million Americans either abused or addicted to prescription opioid pain relievers.

What are Opioids?

Opioids are a form of medication known as analgesics. Analgesics can also be classified as pain relievers. Opioids, however, are prescription only pain relievers that are synthetic opiates. These drugs can give a euphoric feeling reducing the perception of pain. Opioids interact with specific proteins within the opioid receptors throughout your body. When the opioid drug attaches to these receptors located on your spinal cord or within your brain, they will alter your perception of pain.

What are the Side Effects of Opioids?

Common side effects from opioid medications are:

• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Drowsiness
• Itching or hives
• Constipation

It is quite common for people to develop an opioid tolerance. If this occurs, long term management would require an increased dosage. A less, yet still common, issue people may experience is not taking the full prescribed amount. When this occurs, a small tolerance can still build in your system and the use of these medications are not as effective as intended.

What do I Need to Consider if I Choose Opioids for Pain Relief?

In 2013 prescribers wrote almost a quarter of a billion opioid prescriptions. One in every 4 patients receiving long term opioid therapy may see struggles with addiction. According to the ASAM, most Americans that died from opioid overdose were prescribed benzodiazepines at the same time. Benzodiazepines are depressants used to sedate and relieve the central nervous system. The use of both drugs potentially will stop a person’s breathing.

Anyone can become addicted to opioids. Researchers have found that there are some risk factors that may lead to opioid abuse or overdose. These factors may include:

• Overlapping prescriptions for pain relievers from different doctors and having multiple pharmacies 
• Inappropriate prescribing practices
• High daily doses
• Extended release for pain relievers while treating acute pain
• History of mental illness or substance abuse

What are Providers Doing to Make a Difference?

To reverse the abuse of opioids, medical practitioners and hospitals have now started to to avoid prescribing opioids such as methadone, hydrocodone and oxycodone. Along with lessening the use of pain prescriptions, different forms of holistic therapies are being put in place, such as chiropractic care to help with chronic pain. Many pain management physicians are starting to refer patients to qualified chiropractors. A doctor prescribing these medications should be doing a risk assessment that will ask for your current prescribed medications as well as any family medical history. Most doctors and pharmacies are now signing treatment contracts as well as pharmacy agreements to prevent the misuse of opioids. During opioid therapy, a doctor may also conduct random urine screenings to ensure that there has been no unusual usage of medications. Speak openly to your prescribing physician or specialist about your concerns in your own medical history to ensure any prescribed medication would be right for you.

Accident Centers of Texas Is An Alternative To Opioids

If you have been the victim of an auto injury or any other type of personal injury, be sure to contact Accident Centers of Texas . We do our best to treat our patients in a way that minimizes or all out removes the need for opioids. We have eight convenient locations with our qualified and caring chiropractors in Dallas-Fort Worth ready to help ease your pain. We’re not just qualified, we care!

Even though sports medicine has taken huge leaps in recent years, it is still the holistic approach a chiropractor offers that most professional athletes choose after a sports injury. In fact, all 32 teams in the NFL have a chiropractor on hand.

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram previously wrote an article about chiropractic care used in the NFL. Emmitt Smith was quoted, “Playing in a football game is like being in 30-40 car accidents.” He stated that he found chiropractic care was the best way to healing faster, keeping balanced and having overall better function. It is estimated that 90 percent of all professional and first-rate athletes use chiropractic care to prevent injuries and increase their potential functionality during games or matches.  All National Football League (NFL) teams depend on chiropractic doctors in a fitful capacity. About 77 percent of the athletic trainers in the professional sports field refer players to a chiropractor for evaluation or treatment.  

How Athletes Can Benefit From Chiropractic Care

There are several issues that an athlete or non-athlete alike can experience that can lead to injury. An immense reason of injury to most athletes is asymmetry in the body. It is common that a person, even non-athletes can have a preferable position of strength. It could be a strength difference on the left or right side or issues with mobility and flexibility. A chiropractor can properly adjust the body to align and reduce tension throughout using soft tissue massages. Risk of injury is reduced so there is not so much stress on the muscles that lack strength or flexibility.

Retrain Your Body

When the spine displays limitations in movement or alignment, the vertebrae in the spine will show areas of irritation in the nervous system. This can consequently hinder the optimal functions of all other organ systems in the body. As a result, athletic concentration, performance and function suffers. However, when athletes are adjusted regularly, they will often attribute their success to regular chiropractic care.

Drug & Surgical Free Treatment

Chiropractic treatment and care gives a holistic way to treat and prevent countless complaints that often wave athletes. Those who get routine spinal adjustments may notice improvement in athletic performance, range of motion, endurance, flexibility, increased blood flow, and may prevent further injuries. Spinal adjustments will reduce the irritation of the nerve roots between the vertebrae, the healing time from minor injuries can be shortened and will essentially improve performance.

Decrease Pain

The spine is the most important system foundation that contains many pain-sensitive tissues such as joints, muscles, nerves, discs and ligaments. The spine also sends messages from the nervous system to the brain, therefore, if there are any abnormal alignment patterns in the spinal column, this can place an abnormal amount of stress and strain on the nerves, tissues and muscles in your body. Chiropractic adjustments have been known to be consistently better than other medical options in reducing the intensity of acute low back pain and repairing both short term and long term functions.

Injury Prevention & Performance Enhancement

Our chiropractors in Dallas-Fort Worth will take a multidisciplinary style to treat their patients after a sports injury. They are able to inform their patients how to stay physically active in a normal day to day activity or during sports performance by educating them on different issues. A Dallas chiropractor can inform you on dietary needs, stress relief activities, workout routines, stretching methods and so forth. A chiropractor is known to be qualified to identify and remedy an athlete’s ailments without the use of drugs or invasive surgical procedures. Which is the fastest way to recovery with the least amount of side effects for an athlete. If you are suffering from a sports injury be sure to contact Accident Centers of Texas today. We’re not just qualified, we care!