The percentage decline in "prescriptions filled for opioids at a strength of 50 morphine milligram equivalents (MME) per day or more" among active duty Service members from April 2017 to July 2021, according to the Military Health System (MHS).
The percentage of people worldwide on whom "(c)hronic pain exerts an enormous personal and economic burden," according to a recent article in The Lancet -- Chronic pain: an update on burden, best practices, and new advances.
A study of non-treatment-seeking infantry soldiers who had been deployed to Afghanistan or Iraq Tobin, et al (2014) found that 44.0% reported chronic pain (pain for more than 90 days). Of those chronic pain suffers, 48.3% reported symptoms for over one year. Additionally, 15.1% of this non-treatment-seeking sample was using opioids. The comparable rates of civilian chronic pain and opioid use at the time of this study were 26.0% and 4.0%. Alarmingly, 44.1% of soldiers reporting opioid use also reported mild to no pain in the past month and 5.6% reported no pain (Tobin, et al, 2014).
63%
The percentage of soldiers who "had at least one pain diagnosis" during FY 2012, according to a recent article in the journal Military Medicine, Prevalence of Pain Diagnoses and Burden of Pain Among Active Duty Soldiers, FY2012. 59% had a "primary pain diagnosis."
83%
The percentage of military treatment facilities (MTFs) that offer complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) services, according to a recent report from the RAND Corporation -- Complementary and Alternative Medicine in the Military Health System. The most common services offered are relaxation therapy, acupuncture, progressive muscle relaxation, guided imagery, and chiropractic.