Physician Discusses Alternatives to Treating Pain with Opioid Medications

The increasingly widespread use of opioid painkillers for chronic pain has created a public health crisis as many people are abusing these highly addictive medications.

Aiming to reduce the number of opioid prescriptions doctors write, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently issued guidelines that recommend doctors try pain relievers like ibuprofen before prescribing the highly addictive pills, and that they give most patients only a few days’ supply.

But pain intervention specialists actually have a number of other alternative treatments that may address chronic pain with little or no medication.

Listen to a 10-minute podcast on Shepherd Center Radio as Erik Shaw, D.O., of Shepherd Spine and Pain Institute addresses the opioid crisis and explains some pain interventions that are helping patients manage their condition without addictive painkillers. This podcast and others from Shepherd Center Radio are available here or as download from the link above.

Dr. Shaw is an interventional pain management specialist at the Shepherd Spine and Pain Institute. He is double board certified in physical medicine and rehabilitation and pain medicine. A Texas native, Dr. Shaw graduated from Texas A&M University with a degree in biomedical engineering and earned his medical degree at the University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth.