According to the CDC, 130 Americans, on average, die from an opioid overdose every day. The opioid crisis has become a social issue that transcends all geographic and socioeconomic boundaries, and overprescribing has played a major role in the increasing use of opioids and rampant rates of addiction. The extremely potent painkillers are routinely prescribed for the treatment of bodily pain, most often related to surgery, car crashes or other accidents. Considering their strength, you may assume opioids are prescribed only for serious injuries. But according to a new report, doctors are even prescribing the painkillers for sprained ankles.

When researchers examined data from a health insurance claims database, they found that of the nearly 592,000 patients diagnosed with an ankle sprain over a nine-year period, 11.9% filled a prescription for opioids within a week of their diagnosis. Senior author of the report, Dr. James R. Holmes, said, “When we selected out opioid-naïve individuals, or individuals who had not had an opioid prescription during the year before the sprain, 8.4% of these individuals were still filling a prescription for an opioid three months after the original diagnosis.”

Holmes said the findings are particularly disturbing because opioids have never been included in treatment recommendations for ankle sprains. “Several evidence-based recommendations for the treatment of ankle sprains exist and include treatments such as cryotherapy, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, functional support and exercise,” he said. “No evidence-based treatment guidelines for ankle sprains include prescribing opioids.”

Despite widespread knowledge about the dangers of opioids and the multitude of nondrug interventions available, doctors are still overprescribing, and one reason for this appears to be financial. According to a recent analysis, of the 811,000 doctors who wrote prescriptions for Medicare recipients during 2014 and 2015, more than 200,000 prescribed opioids and received payments from the drug makers. While a majority of them received only minor payments, ranging from $100 to $1,000, more than 31,400 of them received as much as $15,000, and nearly 4,000 of them received more than $15,000. Of course, those who prescribed the most opioids received the most money.

Most would agree a sprained ankle does not require an opioid prescription. With all the health risks associated with opioid painkillers, you should always exhaust natural treatment options before resorting to drugs.