Pain management | Addiction Treatment Strategies

Two reports by addiction researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the National Institute on Drug Abuse show a drastic shift in prescribing patterns impacting the magnitude of opioid substance abuse in America. The reports, published in JAMA, recommend a comprehensive effort to reduce public health risks while improving patient care, including better training for prescribers, pain management treatment assessment, personal responsibility and public education.
The JAMA Research Report shows that there has been a drastic increase in opioid prescriptions while prescriptions for non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs…

How can we balance the risk of drug abuse with the suffering caused by untreated back pain?
People living with serious back pain have to sort through a lot of mixed messages about opioid — or narcotic — painkillers.
On the one hand, you’ve heard stories about the seeming epidemic of addiction to these drugs, like OxyContin, Percocet, and Vicodin. All those celebrities checking into rehab for painkiller addiction may give you the impression that the lure of these drugs is irresistible, that we’re all just a few pills away from addiction.
But on the other hand, you might have heard that pain is chronically…