Consumer Reports Weighs in on pain management, and again shows chiropractic as an important first choice. Opioids and other drugs, it's about time Consumer Reports Weighed in on this growing problem. The fact is, pain relievers and even stronger narcotics would not be necessary if healthcare practitioners adequately addressed why their patients hurt in the first place. While this sounds totally logical, who started the idea of pain relief in the absence of understanding why you hurt? For temporary relief, you can take... This has been great marketing by the pharmaceutical industry which both patients and doctors have embraced, but the long term prospects caused by this ideology has been causing addictions, and other health problems as the long term use of these substances take their toll, and our ignorance of body mechanics has resulted in joint injury, degeneration and an aging experience that is probably more painful and disabling than it should be. Increasingly, patients are visiting chiropractors who are giving them that relief, without the drugs or their side effects, yet all too often, their primary physicians are not referring to chiropractors first. Instead, you visit, they prescribe, and if the pain is gone, you and your doctor think you are better or are you? Do symptoms really mean what we think they mean and if they do, why are there so many costly diagnostic tests ordered that are not helpful in solving our problems? Sometimes we know why we hurt because an injury or some other event had occurred that we understand, but all too often, we have no idea and the dirty secret is that neither does your doctor most of the time. They typically send you out if the pill does not help to another medically trained doctor who also does not understand why you hurt but they want to treat you. If your foot hurts, they inject your foot, if your shoulder hurts, they inject, medicate or exercise it but all to often, the area of pain is not the reason the problem exists. By looking at just where you hurt, they are often missing the mechanism behind the pain which often is in another area of the body that may or may not have any pain at all. How can you treat something you do not understand you may ask? The truth is, most healthcare practitioners are taught to use protocols aimed at pain relief, instead of how to understand why you are in pain, and then designing a custom protocol to improve function, pain and ultimately your wellbeing. Unfortunately, there are way too many people who are worse off years later after failed rehab regimens or surgeries that could not possibly work, since they were aimed at the painful area, rather than the malfunction in your body causing it. The truth is, we are mechanical beings and require mechanical solutions for problems such as knee, shoulder, neck, back and even foot problems. Chiropractors work directly on those areas and those who use soft tissue techniques such as myofascial release, active evaluation methods to understand malfunction and active rehabilitation methods are the ones who are most likely to improve your condition using treat - test - treat protocols, the only protocols to be fully scientifically valid. Pain management clinics are often filled with patients in pain and treated by doctors who do not understand why you hurt as well, causing dependence, more procedures and addiction in some cases. Yet, somehow, people entrust their health to doctors of pain, rather than the chiropractor who has been endorsed for years for pain relief and just recently again, by Consumer Reports, and are doctors of function. Worse, insurance companies with high deductible plans now have altered peoples behaviors so they wait until their deductible has been reached, while tolerating pain for months. From the chiropractors perspective, chronicity costs more to treat, and increases pain, frustration and for temporary relief you can take... Later on in the year, you will require more visits, more costs and must ask yourself, if insurance companies are trying to cut costs, why do they give us high deductible plans that make our conditions chronic, which ultimately cost more to treat. Is this any way to run a healthcare system? With high deductible plans, it's your money, so why not visit the best and most appropriate doctor for pain first; the chiropractor. Like all doctors, they are not all alike, and you may wish to ask a friend for a referral, or call the doctor and find out if they use soft tissue techniques, exercises and active evaluation. People trust Consumer Reports. Check out their recent issue on pain management. It offers some helpful tips. Pain Management: Which Treatment Is Right for You? An array of pills and practices are available to pain sufferers today. But be sure you understand the limitations"”and risks"”of each. By Consumer Reports April 28, 2016 Ancient Romans thought that jolting the temples of headache sufferers with electric shocks from live torpedo fish would make the pain vanish. It"™s not clear whether zapping a person with fishy electricity was helpful or if it simply gave the victim another source of agony to focus on. But it didn"™t take humans long to discover other sources of pain relief. By 1300 B.C., the Inca in Peru had discovered that coca leaves"”the source of cocaine"”could numb pain when chewed or applied to wounds. By that time, people in Asia and Egypt had learned to extract opium from the poppy plant, creating the earliest version of an opioid pain drug, similar to what we use today (think hydrocodone and oxycodone). We have (mostly) moved beyond electric fish to other treatments that can alleviate or reduce pain. Here"™s our overview of some common pain management treatments and the conditions for which they work best. Acetaminophen Found in more than 600 prescription and over-the-counter products, medicine such as Tylenol and its generic versions are among the most often used drugs in the U.S. Acetaminophen isn"™t as effective at relieving pain as drugs like ibuprofen (Advil and generic) or naproxen (Aleve and generic), according to an analysis by Consumer Reports Best Buy Drugs. But it won"™t put you at risk for stomach bleeding and a heart attack or stroke the way those two drugs do. In fact, it"™s easier on the gut and is a good option for those who suffer from acid reflux or ulcers. But its overuse is the leading cause of liver damage, sending almost 80,000 people per year to an ER. That can happen if you take only slightly more than the Food and Drug Administration"™s maximum recommended dose of 4,000 mg in a 24-hour period, and is especially worrisome if you"™re a heavy drinker or if you have liver disease. Our medical experts say limit use to no more than 3,250 mg within 24 hours. Read more