FDA: New Pain Guidelines include Chiropractic

The FDA released proposed changes on October 25th, 2017 to educate MDs and other medical providers to begin using other methods of treating pain. The new guidelines will recommend doctors tell their patients about chiropractic care and other options that will help patients avoid the use and overuse of opioids.

“[Health care providers] should be knowledgeable about the range of available therapies, when they may be helpful, and when they should be used as part of a multidisciplinary approach to pain management,” the agency wrote in its proposal.

These changes come at a time when opioid abuse has become rampant. Many patients still do not understand just how well chiropractic can address their pain issues and this is a huge step in getting the population educated. With the inclusion of MD referrals, those patients that have not tried chiropractic will get a chance at healing the underlying conditions or mechanisms of their musculo skeletal neurological pain complex. Additionally those people stuck for months and years in long term pain management clinics will now also have another option when seeking care.