Study of Opioid Use After Lumbar and Cervical Spine Surgery

After consenting, meeting inclusion criteria, and enrollment, all participants will complete several standard self-report questionnaires related to medical history, social demographic, and psychosocial variables that are related to low back pain, and often used in clinics that manage patients with low back pain. They will then be randomized to either receive the education, or only usual care (which is the typical information the surgeon provides the patient verbally during the pre-operative appointment). All patients will receive the usual care education from their surgeon.

Education Group:

The educational video is a white board style patient-centric video. The content of the education focus on providing a historical perspective for opioid prescription from the time when the risk of dependence was highly underestimated. The video discusses the current evidence for the effect of opioid medications in non-cancer on-acute pain. It also discusses some of the dangers of long-term opioid usage.

All Subjects:

All subjects will receive the usual care education that is typically given by their surgeon. That will be left up to the discretion of each surgeon.

All patients will proceed with the surgical procedure as planned. Each week during the 1-month period after the surgery, patients will be contacted, and then again at 6 months to ask history of prescription opioid utilization.

Inclusion criteria

• Currently scheduled for a pre-operative appointment with an orthopaedic spine surgeon or neurosurgeon specifically for a lumbar surgery.
• Surgery is taking place for a condition that has been ongoing for 6 months or longer (chronic)
• Between the age of 18 - 65 years
• Read and speak English well enough to understand the education, provide informed consent and follow study instructions

Exclusion criteria

a. Known aversion or allergy that would prevent the patient from taking any opioid based pain medication