Veterans

Changes in Female Veterans’ Neck Pain Following Chiropractic Care at a Hospital for Veterans

The Chiro.Org Blog

SOURCE:   Complement Ther Clin Pract. 2018 (Feb); 30: 91–95

Kelsey L.Corcoran DC, Andrew S.Dunn DC, MEd, MS, Bart N.Green DC, MSEd, PhD, Lance R.Formolo DC, MS, Gregory P.Beehler PhD, MA

Chiropractic Department,
Medical Care Line,
VA Western New York,
3495 Bailey Ave,
Buffalo, NY 14215, USA

OBJECTIVE:   To determine if U.S. female veterans had demonstrable improvements in neck pain after chiropractic management at a Veterans Affairs (VA) hospital.

METHODS:   This was a retrospective cross-sectional study of medical records from female veterans attending a VA chiropractic clinic for neck pain from 2009 to 2015. Paired t-tests were used to compare baseline and discharge numeric rating scale (NRS) and Neck Bournemouth Questionnaire (NBQ) scores with a minimum clinically important difference (MCID) set at a 30% change from baseline.

RESULTS:   Thirty-four veterans met the inclusion criteria and received a mean of 8.8 chiropractic treatments. For NRS, the mean score improvement was 2.7 (95%CI, 1.9–3.5, p < .001). For the NBQ, the mean score improvement was 13.7 (95%CI, 9.9–17.5, p < .001). For the MCID, the average percent improvement was 45% for the NRS and 38% for the NBQ.

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The Effect of Chiropractic Treatment on the Reaction and Response Times of Special Operation Forces Military Personnel: Study Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial

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SOURCE:   Trials. 2016 (Sep 20); 17 (1): 457

James W. DeVocht, Dean L. Smith, Cynthia R. Long, Lance Corber, Bridget Kane, Thomas M. Jones and Christine M. Goertz

Palmer Center for Chiropractic Research,
741 Brady St,
Davenport, IA, 52803, USA.

BACKGROUND:   Chiropractic care is commonly used to treat musculoskeletal conditions and has been endorsed by clinical practice guidelines as being evidence-based and cost-effective for the treatment of patients with low back pain. Gaps in the literature exist regarding the physiological outcomes of chiropractic treatment. Previous pilot work has indicated the possibility of improvements in response time following the application of chiropractic treatment. However, it is unknown whether or not chiropractic treatment is able to improve reaction and response times in specific populations of interest. One such population is the U.S. military special operation forces’ (SOF) personnel.

METHODS:   This study is a randomized controlled trial of 120 asymptomatic volunteer SOF personnel. All participants are examined by a study doctor of chiropractic (DC) for eligibility prior to randomization. The participants are randomly allocated to either a treatment group receiving four treatments of chiropractic manipulative therapy (CMT) over 2 weeks or to a wait-list control group. The wait-list group does not receive any treatment but has assessments at the same time interval as the treatment group. The outcome measures are simple reaction times for dominant hand and dominant foot, choice reaction time with prompts calling for either hand or either foot, response time using Fitts’ law tasks for small movements involving eye-hand coordination, and brief whole body movements using the t-wall, a commercially available product. At the first visit, all five tests are completed so that participants can familiarize themselves with the equipment and protocol. Assessments at the second and the final visits are used for data analysis.

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A Cross-sectional Analysis of Clinical Outcomes Following Chiropractic Care in Veterans With and Without Post-traumatic Stress Disorder

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SOURCE:   Military Medicine 2009 (Jun); 174 (6): 578–583

Andrew S. Dunn; Steven R. Passmore;
Jeanmarie Burke; David Chicoine

Chiropractic Service,
VA of Western New York Healthcare System,
3495 Bailey Avenue,
Buffalo, NY 14215, USA.

This study was a cross-sectional analysis of clinical outcomes for 130 veteran patients with neck or low back complaints completing a course of care within the chiropractic clinic at the VA of Western New York in 2006. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was utilized, comparing baseline and discharge scores for both the neck and low back regions and for those patients with and without post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Patients with PTSD (n = 21) experienced significantly lower levels of score improvement than those without PTSD (n = 119) on self-reported outcome measures of neck and low back disability. These findings, coupled with the theorized relationships between PTSD and chronic pain, suggest that the success of conservative forms of management for veteran patients with musculoskeletal disorders may be limited by the presence of PTSD. Further research is warranted to examine the potential contributions of PTSD on chiropractic clinical outcomes with this unique patient population.

From the FULL TEXT Article:

INTRODUCTION

A diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can be conveyed when a person has been exposed to a traumatic event that could be perceived as threatening or that actually threatened the physical integrity of the individual or others, and his or her response involved fear, helplessness, or horror. [1] The person must also persistently re-experience the perception of the trauma and avoid reminders of the event while displaying symptoms of increased arousal (sleeplessness, irritability, outbursts) for at least 1 month, which disrupts their social, occupational, or other levels of functioning. [1]

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