Comstock's magazine 1119 - November 2019 | Page 86

HEALTH CARE
distracted they do not perform at peak —
can have a negative effect on morale with
co-workers and customers if the condition
persists over several months.
However, there are strategies that
companies can implement to prevent or
alleviate lost productivity and related is-
sues, which come with a huge price tag
to employers — more than $225 billion a
year, according to the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention. A report from the
national health agency called “Prevalence
of Chronic Pain and High-Impact Chron-
ic Pain Among Adults — United States,
2016,” says more than 20 percent of adult
Americans suffer from chronic pain and
estimates that it contributes to “$560
billion each year in direct medical costs,
lost productivity, and disability programs.”
The category includes back and neck pain,
headaches, arthritis and fibromyalgia, the
acute sensitivity to pain linked to the way
the brain handles stress.
“The most common problem I see is
chronic spinal pain in the lower back or
neck, along with orthopedic pain in the
THERE ARE STRATEGIES THAT COMPANIES CAN IMPLEMENT
TO PREVENT OR ALLEVIATE LOST PRODUCTIVITY AND RELATED
ISSUES, WHICH COME WITH A HUGE PRICE TAG TO EMPLOYERS —
MORE THAN $225 BILLION A YEAR, ACCORDING TO THE CENTERS
FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION.
joints, shoulders and knees,” says pain
specialist Dr. Lee Snook, founder of Met-
ropolitan Pain Management Consultants
in Sacramento. “The whole purpose of
pain management is to reduce patients’
pain in order to restore their functional-
ity and ability to engage in the activities
of their daily lives, which includes at the
workplace. We’re still learning how to do
that. We’re all living longer than we were
probably engineered to live, and as we age,
our bodies give rise to pain. That’s what we
address.”
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Snook is an advocate of forward-think-
ing companies that engage in addressing
common episodic and problematic issues
people experience. “Corporate-sponsored
wellness programs are an investment in
employees and enhance functionality, pro-
ductivity and loyalty to the organization,”
he says. “The psychology of how we en-
gage in the workforce is very important. In
the long run, we have to allow for physical
health, which is strongly correlated with
mental health. The two go together.”
Part of pain management includes
prescription painkillers such as opioids. In
light of findings by the National Institute on
Drug Abuse earlier this year — between
8 and 12 percent of patients on prescrip-
tion opioids develop an opioid-use disor-
der — the pain-treatment community is
“grappling with (the relationship between)
pain and addiction, and it’s a huge factor,”
Snook says.
“Prescribing for patients — if we pre-
scribe at all — has undergone a short-term
evolution,” he says. “Taking care of some
populations of patients can be very com-
plicated. We’re all actively engaged in try-
ing to solve the problem.”
Chronic-pain management isn’t exclu-
sive to medical doctors. Raymond Espi-
nosa’s chiropractic practice, established
in 2001, has a patient base of 600, and
he says, “The No. 1 issue I see is low-back
pain, followed by neck and shoulder pain,
and headaches. The biggest causes are re-
petitive motion over time, or an old injury
that has become unstable.” He says chiro-
practic adjustments can take pressure off
nerves, which reduces inflammation and
pain.
His best advice to workers who are
bound to their desks is to “avoid sitting
in the same position. Try leaning to one
side or crossing your legs, and get out of
your chair and walk around every 30-60
minutes. Pay attention to posture, and be
aware of the risks of bending, lifting, push-
ing and pulling.”
He says the most-asked question his
patients ask is, “What did I do to cause
this?”