Local public and private drug treatment centers in Florida continue to be filled with people struggling with an addiction to prescription painkillers. At Hillsborough County’s public drug treatment center, there are 20 beds for people who volunteer, or are ordered by the court, to complete a four-day detox program.
The drug treatment center is run by the Agency for Community Treatment Services and has most of its beds filled by people who are addicted to opiates.
“If they’re 40 or under, it’s going to be opiates,” said Michael Strolla, the assistant medical director of the drug treatment center.
Most of the patients at the drug treatment center had legitimate pain before they became addicted to the opiates. They tell the story of failed attempts at physical therapy, massage and acupuncture before they acknowledged they were addicted to the pain pills.
“It’s a common story,” said Strolla. “These people, most of them, truly thought they were doing the right thing after tweaking their back or getting injured.”
There are about 70 pain clinics in Hillsborough County and 35 in the Tampa area. According to Bruce Grant, the director of the state Office of Drug Control, there are about 1,000 pain clinics registered in Florida. On October 1, new state laws went into effect making it more difficult to register and operate pain clinics in Florida. The pain clinics are now subject to inspections by state regulators and could be closed if they are not in compliance. A statewide drug monitoring program may also help stem the rising tide of prescription drug abuse.
Back pain is one of humanity’s most frequent complaints. In the U. S. Potential results in of pain in muscle tissue include Muscle strains (pulled muscles), muscle spasm, and muscle imbalances. One potential source of back pain is skeletal muscle
of the back. About nine out of ten adults meet back pain at some point in their life, and five out of ten working adults have back pain every year. The spine is a complex interconnecting network of nerves, joints, muscles, tendons and ligaments, and all are capable of producing pain. News about Exercises Prevent Low Back Pain.
Clinical trials sponsored by the National Institutes of Health related to back pain can be viewed at NIH Clinical Back Pain Trials. However, one study found that activity is also effective for chronic back pain, but not for acute pain. Another study found that back-mobilizing exercises in acute settings are less effective than continuation of ordinary activities as tolerated. There are varied clinical trials sponsored both by industry and the National Institutes of Health.
Back pain can be divided anatomically: neck pain, upper back pain, lower back pain or tailbone pain. It may have a abrupt start or can be a chronic pain; it can be unfading or intermittent, stay in one place or radiate to other areas. Injections, such as epidural steroid injections and facet joint injections, may be effective when the cause of the pain is accurately localized to particular sites. The benefit of prolotherapy has not been well-documented.
The vast majority of episodes of back pain are self-limiting and non-progressive. Most back pain syndromes are due to inflammation, especially in the acute phase, which typically lasts for two weeks to three months. Back pain in individuals with a history of cancer (especially cancers known to spread to the spine like breast, lung and prostate cancer) should be evaluated to rule out metastatic disease of the spine. Back pain that occurs after a trauma, such as a car accident or fall may indicate a bone fracture or other injury.
Biomechanical factors of pregnancy that are shown to be associated with low back pain of pregnancy include abdominal sagittal and transverse diameter and the depth of lumbar lordosis. About 50% of women have low back pain during pregnancy. Back pain in pregnancy may be severe enough to cause significant pain and disability and pre-dispose patients to back pain in a following pregnancy. No significant increased risk of back pain with pregnancy has been found with respect to maternal weight gain, exercise, work satisfaction, or pregnancy outcome factors such as birth weight, birth length, and Apgar scores.
The avoidance of high impact, weight-bearing activities and especially those that asymmetrically load the involved structures such as: extensive twisting with lifting, single-leg stance postures, stair climbing, and repetitive motions at or near the end-ranges of back or hip motion can easen the pain. Ultrasound has been shown not to be beneficial and has fallen out of favor. Clinical Trials Inversion therapy is useful for temporary back relief due to the traction method or spreading of the back vertebres through (in this case) gravity.
Some national governments, notably Australia and the United Kingdom, have launched campaigns of public health awareness to aid combat the problem, for example the Health and Safety Executive’s Better Backs campaign.
