For pregnant women, pain relief from lower back pain can be a challenge. This is magnified for those expectant mothers who seek opiate painkillers to relieve pain symptoms during pregnancy.

Cases of neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) — in which babies are born addicted to opioids because of their mothers’ use of the drugs during pregnancy — have increased fivefold between 2000 and 2012, based on data from mothers and babies in the United States published in the journal, JAMA Pediatrics. That number represents approximately 22,000 infants within the last year, according to the study.