An American study shows that almost half of patients with chronic pain use chiropractic and acupuncture in addition to their treatment without talking to their doctor.
According to a recent survey, more than half of French people (68%) have complained of chronic pain for more than a year. Headaches and back pain are at the top of the charts. Faced with this suffering, the response of the French varies. While 18-24 year olds tend to wait for the pain to go away on its own, 50-60 year olds are more likely to seek medical attention. In the United States, more and more patients are resorting to alternative medicine.
Chiropractic at the forefront of practices
In this study published in theAmerican Journal of Managed Care and relayed by the site santelog, the researchers interviewed more than 6,000 patients (Oregon and Washington), followed by outpatient consultations for chronic pain at Kaiser Permanente. The majority of participants, on average 61 years old, were women (71%) and the results show that 58% used chiropractic and / or acupuncture.
Important note, 35% of participants who had recourse to acupuncture alone and 42% to chiropractic alone, did not report it to their attending physician.
To explain this secrecy to doctors, the study specifies that “most patients with chronic pain are looking for complementary treatments to complement primary care, but, too often, doctors do not speak or are not in touch. listening to these treatments and that patients do not dare to share this information ”.
Allopaths must open up to natural medicine
However, the vast majority of participants said they were “willing” to share this information with a healthcare professional. Among the reasons for these consultations in natural medicine, the most common ailments concerned joint and muscle pain, arthritis, headaches and back pain.
Faced with this observation, the authors think that it would be necessary “to better train professionals on the basis of the evidence of effectiveness of these alternative therapies, so that they can discuss and advise their patients”. “If we know what works and what does not, we can better advise our patients, or even direct them to an approach they have not yet tried,” they add.
This conclusion is all the more relevant as, sometimes, certain painkillers (opioids) are responsible for significant side effects.
All about chronic and diffuse pain +++
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