Prolonged opioid use may carry several potential health risks, particularly for breast cancer survivors. “One of the problems with adjuvant hormone treatment [for breast cancer survivors], and many of these survivorship treatments, is that they can be associated with musculoskeletal side effects,” Rajesh Balkrishnan, professor of public health sciences at the UVA School of Medicine, said. “It is often recommended that women take some type of commonly available painkiller and exercise to improve muscle tone. But many women require short courses of opioids to manage their pain.”