Palmer Center for Chiropractic Research Receives $7.4 million Military Readiness Grant

The Chiro.Org Blog

Scientists at the Palmer Center for Chiropractic Research (PCCR), the RAND Corporation and the Samueli Institute have been awarded a $7.4 million grant by the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program. The grant will fund a four-year research project to assess chiropractic treatment for military readiness in active duty personnel. This is the largest single award for a chiropractic research project in the history of the profession and will be used to conduct the largest clinical trial evaluating chiropractic to date.

Ian Coulter, Ph.D., the Samueli Institute Chair in Policy for Integrative Medicine at RAND Corporation, is the research project’s principal investigator. Co-principal investigator and Palmer College of Chiropractic’s Vice Chancellor for Research and Health Policy Christine Goertz, D.C., Ph.D., will oversee the design and implementation of the three clinical trials funded by this award. The Palmer Center for Chiropractic Research will receive approximately $5.1 million in order to accomplish this task. Samueli Institute Vice President for Military Medical Research Joan Walter, J.D., also is a co-principal investigator for this project.

Because musculoskeletal injuries are among the most commonly occurring injuries in military personnel and may reduce levels of performance and readiness, the study will assess the efficacy of chiropractic treatment for active duty military personnel in a number of areas.

Through three clinical trials, the study will assess chiropractic’s effectiveness in:

  • relieving low back pain and improving function in active duty service members;
  • evaluating the effects of chiropractic treatment on reflexes and reaction times for Special Operations forces;
  • determining the effect of chiropractic treatment on strength, balance and injury prevention for members of the Armed Forces with combat specialties; and
  • assessing the impact of a chiropractic intervention on smoking cessation in military service members.

The Palmer Center for Chiropractic Research, headquartered on the Palmer College of Chiropractic campus in Davenport, Iowa, is the largest institutional chiropractic research effort in the world, promoting excellence and leadership in scientific research. The PCCR has the largest budget for research in a chiropractic college, receiving grants from the National Institutes of Health, National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration, and now the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program. Since 2000, these grant awards have totaled approximately $35 million.