In the US right now Drugs are overwhelmingly the primary first line treatment of pain. To understand why this is a problem it is important to first understand how drugs actually work. Simply put drugs just put a band-aid on the symptoms, they just cover them up, while COMPLETELY ignoring the root cause. This is a big problem.
Medications only do one of two things. They either chemically cover up the pain by neutralizing the chemicals associated with the pain response in the body at the tissue or structural level which is how anti inflammatory medications such as ibuprofen, Motrin, and similar drugs work. The second way they are intended to act is by covering up the signal in the brain that senses pain, the signal that tells your mind your MIND / YOU that you are in pain, this is how the more powerful and extremely dangerous narcotics such as Vicodin and Oxycontin work. While that may work in the short term, which is really what these drugs are designed for in the first place and what they are used for in most countries, this does not work in the long term, tolerance and dependence on these dangerous agents leads to people requiring more of them to have the same effect. That’s a vicious cycle I want you to avoid. And if your there now, I want to help you gradually decrease you need for these drugs by actually treating the root cause of you pain.
This is a new concept and medical professionals, especially here in the US are VERY resistant to change. It has a lot to do with their training, their mindset and some other factors which are beyond the scope of this blog. Most are well meaning, just in many cases ill informed. And I do work with many doctors and healthcare professionals who are open to new methods and who always seek conservative care before going to dangerous drugs and invasive procedures, but lets fact it, we all know this is not the norm. Look at the tragedy that has occurred in this country with prescription pain medication! WOW!.
As a country we are only 5% percent of the worlds population yet we consume 80% of the worlds pain medication. If you add in Canada and Europe, its 95%. This is well known and has been all over the news. Click on the links at the end of this to watch a few videos on this subject, they are really eye opening.
Many experts feel that Vicodin in not classified correctly by the FDA and should actually be classified in the same category as morphine. Lewis Nelson, who served on an FDA panel to try to stem this deadly and growing epidemic said “Opioids are essentially legal Herion”. Hard to say he was wrong since following the restriction in prescribing these drugs there has been a huge increase in Heroin use and deaths, were seeing this right here in our own city. This is an absolute tragedy and we should all be outraged.
So enough of the negativity here. I did not really want to go there but I think you need to really understand the current mindset and the current state we are in so you can embrace a new and much better mindset and method of treating pain.
In my next blog were going to talk about this new way of looking at pain and how it can help you or a loved one who is suffering needlessly.
If you want to get started on pain relief now by talking with me or a member of our team call
Synergy Physical Therapy & Wellness and Wellness at:
or e mail me at
Americans consume vast majority of the world’s opioids
ABC News Report on Pain Medication Usage
Wishing you a Pain Free Life,
