U.S. soldiers who suffer from injuries use opioid drugs which are a quick fix but what they really need is a safe pain management that will help them cope in the long run.
Based on a new study, 44 percent of soldiers in an infantry brigade experienced chronic pain for about three months or more. Fifteen percent of the soldiers in the brigade used opioids to sooth their pain while almost 50 percent of the soldiers in an opioid study experienced pain over the same period. Unfortunately, these high opioid use and chronic pain rates may functionally impair American soldiers.
Researchers surveyed 2,600 brigade soldiers three months following their return from an Afghanistan tour. They asked about pain and medication use. Pain lasting for at least 90 days or more is considered chronic pain.
Combat injury was a risk factor and results indicated that a great minority of soldiers in pain and opioids were not injured in combat. It appears that the returning soldiers' chronic pain is mainly caused by combat injuries. The researchers noted that the soldiers who endured some kind of combat injury are almost three times more likely to experience chronic pain and twice more likely to use narcotic painkillers.
"War is really hard on the body," Walter Reed Army Institute of Research clinical psychologist and study author Lt. Cmdr. Robin Toblin from Silver Spring, Md. said. "People come home with a lot of injuries, and as you can imagine they experience a lot of pain. There seems to be a large unmet need of management, treatment and assessment of chronic pain."
Along with combat injury, other substantial chronic pain risk factors include being 30 years old and above, being in a former or current marriage, being exposed to medium and high level combat and being positive for major depression or post-traumatic stress. Other opioid use risk factors include being a female, being in a current marriage, being enlisted in junior rank and being in chronic, moderate or severe pain. Those who suffer from chronic pain and use opioids do not commonly misuse alcohol.
The Defense Department is making efforts to prevent adverse effects of prescription narcotics. The Army tests members randomly for opioid use and place those who are positive in a program with a single healthcare provider that limits prescription time. According to experts, if pain management won't improve, many soldiers are at risk of increasing life-long disabilities.
