Ankeny, IA, September 19, 2017 – The Iowa Chiropractic Society (ICS) is honored to have Gov. Kim Reynolds proclaim September as Drug-Free Pain Management Awareness Month.
ICS celebrates Drug-Free Pain Management Awareness Month along with the Foundation for Chiropractic Progress and doctors of chiropractic nationwide. Drug-Free Pain Management Awareness Month is an opportunity to raise public awareness about non-pharmacologic options, such as chiropractic care, to safely and effectively relieve acute, subacute and chronic pain. This month of observances will educate and inform consumers, managed care, state legislators and patient referral sources.
Whereas, prescription opioid use and abuse leading to addiction and catastrophic outcomes has become a national crisis;
Whereas the leading cause of injury death in the United States is drug overdose, and a majority of the deaths from drug overdose deaths involved an opioid;
Whereas from 1999 to 2014, more than 165,000 people --- three times the U.S. military deaths during the twenty years of the Vietnam War -- have died in the U.S. from overdoses related to prescription opioids;
Whereas the newest estimates on the cost of opioid abuse to U.S. employers is estimated at $18 billion in sick days, lost productivity and medical expenses;
Whereas over 100 million suffer with chronic pain and an estimated 75 to 85 percent of all American will experience some form of back pain during their life time;
Whereas doctors of chiropractic are educated and trained to effectively address spinal and skeletal pain with non-surgical, non-drug management;
Now, therefore, be it resolved, That September 2017 be declared Drug-Free Pain Management Month, to raise public awareness that chiropractic care is the primary first-line, non-pharmacologic approach to
safely and effectively relieve acute, subacute and chronic pain.
The Drug-Free Pain Management Awareness Month observance will be included annually in the American Hospital Association official health care observance calendar.
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The Iowa Chiropractic Society (ICS), since its founding in 1964, has been the leader on behalf of the profession to ensure patient access to a comprehensive range of health care services including chiropractic. Today, the mission of the ICS is to dramatically increase the number of Iowans experiencing improved quality of living through chiropractic care. The ICS is the only statewide association in unifying and advancing chiropractic in Iowa.
