When Oregon announced in 2016 that it would shift its back and neck care for Medicaid clients from opioids toward acupuncture, spinal manipulation, massage, yoga therapy and mind-body methods, it was heralded as a breakthrough for pain treatment nationally. Inside that policy was a mandate many now consider even biggerRead
A 62-year-old with stage IV lung cancer that has spread to his bones, causing unspeakable pain, is trying to convince his physician to prescribe pain medicine. What happens next? It actually could depend on if the patient is black or white. Or if the physician is a primary care providerRead
When I first read Wild Wisdom, A Warthog’s Tale, I mistakenly took it for a children’s book. Look beyond the enchanting art work and you will find it is nothing of the sort. It’s a very adult book that uncovers the private thoughts and public decisions that Laurada Byers madeRead
Over the past decade an increasing reliance on opioids to treat pain has been associated with a rising epidemic of opioid misuse in the USA, that is now expanding globally. Lancet recently published three papers designed to address the role of inappropriate opioid prescribing after surgery as a major causeRead
As integrative practitioners have been saying, a holistic approach to pain is the answer to the opioid crisis, especially for low-income and at-risk patients. A new study give these ideas merit. A program offering group support, acupuncture, mindfulness, massage and gentle exercise may help prevent patients on prescription opioids fromRead
A breakthrough test developed by Indiana University School of Medicine researchers to measure pain in patients could help stem the tide of the opioid crisis in Indiana, and throughout the rest of the nation. A study led by psychiatry professor Alexander Niculescu, MD, PhD and published in Nature journal Molecular PsychiatryRead
Want your voice heard about integrative pain management? The Pain Management Best Practices Interagency Task Force issued its draft report in late Dec. 2018. The comment period is open for the next 90 days, until March 28, 2019. The Pain Management Best Practices Inter-Agency Task Force (Task Force), in aRead
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