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TUESDAY, Oct. 22, 2019 (HealthDay News) — Patients who initially see a physical therapist or chiropractor for low back pain rather than a primary care physician are much less likely to be prescribed opioids, according to a study recently published in BMJ Open<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Lewis E. Kazis, Sc.D., from Boston University, and colleagues evaluated outpatient and inpatient claims from patient visits, pharmacy claims, and inpatient and outpatient procedures for patients with new-onset low back pain from 2008 to 2013. They assessed the association of initial provider treatment with early and long-term opioid use.<\/p>\n
The researchers found that short-term use of opioids was 22 percent. There were decreased odds of short-term and long-term opioid use among patients who received initial treatment from chiropractors or physical therapists versus those who received initial treatment from primary care physicians (adjusted odds ratios [aORs], 0.10 and 0.15, respectively). Initial chiropractic and physical therapy visits also were associated with decreased odds of long-term opioid use in a propensity score-matched sample (aOR, 0.21 and 0.29, respectively) compared with primary care physician visits.<\/p>\n
“To reduce the risks of short- and long-term opioid use, insurers should incentivize patients to see physical therapists or chiropractors first or early on following a bout of low back pain, before seeing primary care physicians,” Kazis said in a statement.<\/p>\n