Living in chronic pain isn’t just uncomfortable; it is devastating to endure and creates a fog of pain that prevents you from participating and enjoying your life as you should. This has led many doctors to recommend opioids for chronic pain management, but as our nation’s current opioid epidemic has proven, such addictive and dangerous pharmaceutical drugs are not the best answers to issues like knee osteoarthritis, hip pain, and severe chronic back pain.

In fact, a study published at the beginning of March found that opioids are no more effective than nonopioid drugs in treating moderate to severe chronic back pain or hip or knee osteoarthritis pain. Doctors around the country should heed the information presented in this study to reevaluate their guidelines for prescribing opioids to patients.

Erin E. Krebs, MD, MPH, a general internist at the Center for Chronic DIsease Outcomes Research in the Veterans Affairs Health Care System, recruited patients from Veterans Affairs primary care clinics who experienced moderate to severe chronic back pain or hip or knee osteoarthritis pain for her study. A total of 240 patients enrolled in the trial, 156 of whom had chronic back pain and 84 of whom had hip or knee osteoarthritis pain. Krebs and her team evaluated the patients from June 2013 through December 2015 and followed up in December 2016.

All patients in the study received their drugs in three phases. The opioid group received immediate-release morphine, hydrocodone/acetaminophen, or immediate-release oxycodone in Step 1. They received sustained-action morphine or sustained-action oxycodone in Step 2 and transdermal fentanyl in Step 3. The non-opioid group, meanwhile, received acetaminophen or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in Step 1, adjuvant oral medications and topical analgesics in Step 2, and drugs like pregabalin and tramadol in Step 3.

The results showed that the opioid and nonopioid groups experienced similar pain-related function, while pain intensity was significantly better in the nonopioid group. As explained by the researchers, “Among patients with chronic back pain or hip or knee osteoarthritis pain, treatment with opioids compared with nonopioid medications did not result in significantly better pain-related function over 12 months…. Overall, opioids did not demonstrate any advantage over nonopioid medications that could potentially outweigh their greater risk of harms.”

If you are struggling with chronic pain and want to explore safe and effective ways to escape your pain, just call (941) 229-1648 to schedule an appointment with Dr. Bennett at Bennett Orthopedics and Sports Medicine in Sarasota, Florida. Dr. Bennett’s PRP therapy and other regenerative treatments give patients the opportunity to escape the opioid cycle and permanently heal their bodies.