--- title: 25% of People With Sprained Ankles Were Prescribed Opioids description: A new study says doctors prescribed opioids to 25% of people who were treated for sprained ankles between 2011 and 2015. canonical: https://time.com/5351906/opioid-prescriptions-sprained-ankles/ author: Jamie Ducharme article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-07-28T16:33:48.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-12T18:28:59.000Z article:section: Health og:title: A New Study Shows Just How Often Docs Prescribe Opioids og:description: Even for sprained ankles og:url: https://time.com/5351906/opioid-prescriptions-sprained-ankles/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt342f8a0eca4297bd/6989368e22fb857767e264a9/oxycodone.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4288 og:image:height: 2412 og:image:alt: Oxycodone narcotic pain reliever og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: A New Study Shows Just How Often Docs Prescribe Opioids twitter:description: Even for sprained ankles twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt342f8a0eca4297bd/6989368e22fb857767e264a9/oxycodone.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # A New Study Shows Just How Much Doctors Prescribe Opioids > Sponsored content. 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Brief (Washington politics, three times a week), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement.  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Updated: Dec 12, 2023 6:28 PM UTCPublished: Jul 28, 2018 4:33 PM UTC  Oxycodone pills. Oxycodone pills. Education Images—UIG via Getty Images  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Updated: Dec 12, 2023 6:28 PM UTCPublished: Jul 28, 2018 4:33 PM UTC After years of rising use, [federal data suggests](https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/66/wr/mm6626a4.htm?s%5Fcid=mm6626a4%5Fw) that opioid prescriptions are beginning to drop off in the U.S., perhaps in an effort to curtail a [substance abuse epidemic that continues to get worse](http://time.com/5187886/opioid-overdose-rates/). But new research suggests that many doctors are still prescribing these powerful drugs — even for relatively minor injuries. In fact, a quarter of patients treated for ankle sprains between 2011 and 2015 left the hospital with an opioid prescription, [according to a paper](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0196064418304980#!) published in the _Annals of Emergency Medicine._ To reach that finding, University of Pennsylvania researchers analyzed private insurance claims filed by almost 31,000 patients who had been treated in an emergency room for a sprained ankle. All of these patients were older than 18, and none had filled an opioid prescription during the prior six months. Overall, 25.1% of these patients received an opioid prescription, the researchers found. The average opioid prescription was relatively low-dose and supplied about 15 pills, or enough for three days, but a small number received prescriptions equivalent to more than 30 tablets of mid-strength oxycodone — which the [Drug Enforcement Administration says](https://www.dea.gov/druginfo/ds.shtml) has “high potential for abuse.” Almost 5% of patients in the study who received prescriptions of this strength progressed to prolonged opioid use, compared to about 1% of patients who were written more moderate prescriptions and 0.5% of individuals who did not get an opioid prescription, the paper says. Prescription habits also varied widely from state to state, the researchers found: In Arkansas, for example, 40% of patients walked away with opioid prescriptions, compared to almost 3% of people in North Dakota. The paper also notes that overall prescription rates dropped during the study period, from 28% of patients in 2011 to 20.4% in 2015\. In 2016, a year after the research period ended, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [issued new, stricter guidelines](http://time.com/4259639/cdc-federal-government-national-standards-prescription-painkillers/) for prescribers. And in 2017, [CVS pharmacy began limiting access to opioids](http://time.com/4952176/cvs-pharmacy-opioid-epidemic/). The study, which was in part funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), is the latest to demonstrate how [doctor-prescribed opioids can contribute to long-term substance use](http://time.com/4675325/doctors-opioid-epidemic/). An estimated 80% of people who eventually use heroin first misused prescription drugs, [according to NIDA](https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/research-reports/relationship-between-prescription-drug-heroin-abuse/prescription-opioid-use-risk-factor-heroin-use). Despite the prevalence of opioid medications, however, research suggests that [over-the-counter painkillers are just as effective](http://time.com/5012393/non-opioid-pain-relievers-just-as-effective-as-opioids/) for most injuries, and that many [Americans would prefer to treat pain without drugs](http://time.com/4936193/pain-relief-opioids/?iid=sr-link5). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5351906/opioid-prescriptions-sprained-ankles/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5351906/opioid-prescriptions-sprained-ankles/"},"headline":"A New Study Shows Just How Much Doctors Prescribe Opioids","datePublished":"2018-07-28T16:33:48.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-12T18:28:59.000Z","description":"Even for relatively minor injuries","url":"https://time.com/5351906/opioid-prescriptions-sprained-ankles/","keywords":["opioids","onetime","healthytime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt342f8a0eca4297bd/6989368e22fb857767e264a9/oxycodone.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jamie Ducharme","jobTitle":"Ducharme is a contributor to TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt342f8a0eca4297bd/6989368e22fb857767e264a9/oxycodone.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Oxycodone narcotic pain reliever","caption":"Oxycodone narcotic pain reliever","creditText":"Education Images—UIG via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/opioids/","name":"opioids"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5351906/opioid-prescriptions-sprained-ankles/","name":"A New Study Shows Just How Much Doctors Prescribe Opioids"}}]}] ```