Recently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
published the "CDC Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic
Pain—United States, 2016."
1
This publication is a result of the significant
increase in opioid use over the past decade. According to the publication,
approximately 20 percent of pain patients have been prescribed an opioid
at some point; and from 2007 to 2012, opioid prescriptions increased a
whopping 7.3 percent per capita. This five-year increase demonstrates
the opioid prescription epidemic we have across our nation, which has
led primary-care providers to worry about patient addiction and question
whether there are alternative treatments for their chronic-pain patients.
50 m a s s a g e & b o d y w o r k n o v e m b e r / d e c e m b e r 2 0 1 6
education
SOMATIC RESEARCH
Alternatives to Opioids
CAM for Pain Management
By Jerrilyn Cambron, DC, PhD, MPH, LMT
