A national group of health-care providers is calling for a new approach to pain management in Canada that cuts down on the prescribing of opioids in favour of non-pharmacological alternatives. The Coalition for Safe and Effective Pain Management outlined its ideas Monday in a report at the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addictions' Issues of Substance 2017 conference in Calgary. "Although the opioid crisis is complex, part of the solution is to reduce the number of people newly introduced to opioids by rethinking the role of, and access to, non-pharmacological alternatives in pain management," says the report, Reducing the Role of Opioids in Pain Management. The most commonly treated conditions being treated among Canadians using opioids are chronic low back pain, chronic neck pain, fibromyalgia and chronic headaches. "The demand for opioids is based the misconceptions that all pain, including chronic pain, can be treated with a pill," the report says.

Source: CBC News November 13, 2017 20:37 UTC