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New research examines the high rates of chronic pain among soldiers returning from deployment.
A survey from the Walter Reed Army Institute of research finds 44 percent of soldiers say they suffer from pain lasting more than three months at a time.
15 percent say they try to control their pain with opioid pain killers.
Opioid drug use in military populations is nearly triple what is observed in civilian populations. Researchers estimate about 26 percent of the general population experiences chronic pain and 4 percent have used opioids in the past month.
If pain management isn’t well monitored or is too heavily reliant on short-term fixes like opioids, it can lead to drug dependence. Because of the physically and mentally taxing nature of their job, soldiers are at a greater risk for both chronic pain and opioid use.
“They get beat up a lot more. The deployments, the physical exertion, the extreme environment,” said co-author of the accompanying study commentary Dr. Wayne Jonas, president and CEO of the Samueli Institute in Alexandria, Va.
“Opioid pain relievers are highly addictive, and if someone doesn’t build up the necessary tolerance, it is easy to overdose on opioids. This is why they are a Schedule II controlled substance,” added study co-author Dr. Robin Toblin, M.P.H., of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Silver Spring, Md. Like any addictive drug, it is easy to build up a tolerance to opioids and require more to achieve the same effect, Toblin said.
Agencies/Canadajournal
