Researchers from the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs found that choosing alternative treatments over prescription drugs for chronic pain yielded better health outcomes in the long-term.
“Chronic pain is associated with adverse outcomes, such as substance abuse and suicidal thoughts and behavior,” said researcher Dr. Esther Meerwijk. “If non-drug treatments make chronic pain more bearable, people may be more likely to have positive experiences in life. That makes them less likely to have thoughts of suicide or turn to drugs.”
Steering clear of drugs
The researchers observed over 142,000 veterans, all of whom had served more or less than one year in Iraq or Afghanistan.
When suffering from chronic pain, many patients are quick to receive a prescription for an opioid painkiller. Because experts are worried about the potential outcomes associated with such drugs, the researchers set out to discover how non-drug treatment options compared to prescriptions when it came to effectiveness.
The researchers compared vets who received drugs for chronic pain with those who received alternative treatment plans. They found that those who didn’t receive drugs were not only feeling less pain, but they also had better mental health outcomes than their counterparts.
Targeting the pain without drugs helped the vets fight off a number of side effects that are common when patients take prescription painkillers for extended periods of time. The researchers saw better results from the vets when it came to alcohol and drug abuse, suicidal thoughts, and self-harm.
“It made sense that if non-drug treatments are good at managing pain, their effect would go beyond pain relief,” said Dr. Meerwijk. “However, I was surprised that the results of our analyses held, despite our attempts to prove them wrong.”
Alternative treatment options
While the researchers explained that the observational nature of the study makes it hard to create a clear cause and effect chain, these results were encouraging. The team hopes that medical professionals will consider alternative courses of treatment when patients present with chronic pain. Some of the remedies used in this study to treat the pain included:
Electrical nerve stimulation
Acupuncture
Osteopathic spinal manipulation
Superficial heat treatment
Biofeedback
Ultrasonography
Traction
Chiropractic care
Dry needling
Exercise therapy
Massage
Lumbar supports