Pain: Alternative to a Narco-Epidemic

This thesis is being archived as a Digitized Shelf Copy for campus access to current students and staff only. We currently cannot provide this open access without the author's permission. If you are the author of this work and desire to provide it open access or wish access removed, please contact the Wahlstrom Library to discuss permission.While the figures on the use of opioids are still rising public health authorities including the Center for Disease Control (CDC) are waving the red flag as the number of deaths related to the use of narcotics is also going up. It is undeniable that pain control has reached summits in popularity and ease of dispensing from the emergency department to any primary care providers yet the price of success for opioid treatment can be observed in the national statistics on narcotic misuse and the number of deaths due to overdose and/or adverse effects. Pain contracts have now been established between patients and prescription providers in order to limit the epidemic. Alternative models can be explored in osteopathy and naturopathy; the use of manual treatment and botanicals can provide different models based on their respective philosophy and actions. Through an analytical approach of the narcotic phenomenon in America and an alternative model of care this paper provides models of thoughts to possibly reduce the deadly statistics and offer therapeutic methods that have been left aside for quite some time with the emergence of easy-swallowed pain pills and a fast-food approach to medicine in general. Naturopathic medicine offers many modalities of intervention from botanicals to hydrotherapy or from intelligent nutrition and nutraceuticals to counseling. Osteopathic medicine is also a useful and natural method to treat pain using manual skills along with a distinct philosophy