Opioids can be effective at relieving pain, but that effectiveness comes at a major cost. If opioids are used over an extended period of time, they can be highly addictive, and then the pain relief will become the lesser of the two problems an individual might have. Addiction is serious business, and it can completely dominate the thinking of a person who has become enslaved by the usage of opioid drugs.

Of the nearly 71,000 drug overdose deaths in the US in 2019, more than 50,000 of those deaths were attributable to overdosing on opioids. As with any other drug, the opioid user gradually needs more and more drugs to satisfy their need, and eventually, that need can be so great that an overdose occurs. The clear solution to this situation is a treatment that effectively manages pain but does not cause the user to become addicted to the treatment. For this situation, the much better option is laser therapy.

The problem with opioids 

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has reported that among patients who are given a one-day supply of opioids following surgery, there is a six percent chance those patients will still be using the opioids a year later. Not so bad, right? However, if given a two-day supply of opioids, 10 percent of those patients will still be using the drugs a year later.

And when the patients were given a 40-day supply of opioids – a full 45 percent were still using them a year later, regardless of whether their pains had subsided. It is estimated that currently there are between five and eight million people using opioids for chronic pain management. If something like half those individuals become addicted to opioids, it will create a much worse medical problem than managing the pain experienced by those same individuals.

A better approach 

Since 1967, there have been more than 2,500 studies conducted on the effectiveness of treating pain with laser therapy. Many of these studies have involved double blinds and placebos, and they consistently demonstrate the real benefits of using laser therapy to manage pain. What’s more, the benefits imparted by laser therapy almost always last longer than any kind of medication, because there is actual healing involved with the laser procedure. Medications only mask the pain for a while, and when the drugs wear off, the pain comes back in full force. Since there’s no dependence or withdrawal associated with laser therapy, it represents a much better option for pain management.

What can laser therapy be used for?

Laser therapy can be effective in treating both chronic and acute pain management. Since laser therapy is effective for stimulating all kinds of different cells, including nerves, muscles, ligaments, and cartilage, it can be used to great benefit in treating all kinds of bodily pains. It has been proven effective at treating lower back pain, arthritis pain, tendonitis, neck pain, knee pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, and fibromyalgia pain. When you’re looking for the best way to manage almost any kind of pain in your body, the hands-down winner is laser therapy.

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OrthoLazer Orthopedic Laser Centers offer patients and their doctors an innovative and effective alternative pain management option to treat acute and chronic orthopedic conditions. Founded by Dr. Scott Sigman – the original opioid-sparing surgeon – our centers further his mission of providing his patients non-operative and non-opioid treatment options. If you’d like more information about OrthoLazer, please visit our website at ortholazer.com.