;
This article points to the need for earlier intervention in the management of both addiction and chronic pain. Dr. Javery and Dr. Suderman as well as many other pain specialists have emphasized the need to see patients earlier on in their experience with pain in order to offer non-opioid or potentially opioid sparing and reducing treatments to improve pain and function and decrease or eliminate the need for controlled substances which are contributing to our nation’s epidemic. We are grateful that clinicians are prescribing less opioids and therefore contributing less to this epidemic but we also know there is a need to manage pain even in the midst of this epidemic potentially with the responsible use of opioids. Pain management specialists can bring many different options to bear for someone struggling with chronic pain to treat pain in a multidisciplinary manner. Similar to addiction specialists trying to prevent addiction as discussed in this article, the earlier on we can treat pain the less exposure there will be to potentially addictive substances such as opioids in the management of pain.
Read more here: https://newsroom.uw.edu/postscript/plain-language-spine-scans-cuts-opioid-prescriptions
