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Chinese treatment plea over US opioid epidemic
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IN the wake of an opioid epidemic, acupuncturists in the US are recommending their methods as a primary non-medicinal method for pain relief and management.
“The United States is facing a national opioid epidemic, and medical systems are in need of non-pharmacologic strategies that can be employed to decrease the public’s opioid dependence,” according to a 21-page white paper.
Official figures showed that opioid overdoses kill 91 Americans every day and more than half of those deaths involve prescription opioids.
Titled “Acupuncture’s Role in Solving the Opioid Epidemic,” the white paper said “acupuncture has emerged as a powerful, evidence-based, safe, cost-effective and available treatment modality suitable to meeting this need.”
The white paper said acupuncture has been shown to be effective for treating various types of pain, with the strongest evidence emerging for back pain, neck pain, shoulder pain, chronic headache and osteoarthritis.
It said mechanisms of action for acupuncture have been extensively researched, which found the ancient Chinese practice increase the production and release of endogenous opioids in animals and humans.
“Acupuncture should be recommended as a first line treatment for pain before opiates are prescribed, and may reduce opioid use,” it says.
“Further, acupuncture’s cost-effectiveness could dramatically decrease health care expenditures, both from the standpoint of treating acute pain and through avoiding the development of opioid addiction that requires costly care, destroys quality of life, and can lead to fatal overdose.”
Last week, the US National Association of Attorneys General sent a letter to America’s Health Insurance Plans, asking its insurance company members to review policies in order to promote alternatives to opioids.
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