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Improvements seen in military personnel with low back pain after usual medical care with chiropractic care
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Moderate short-term improvements in low back intensity and disability were seen in active-duty military personnel treated with chiropractic care combined with usual medical care, according to recently published results in JAMA Network Open.
“This patient-centered, multisite, pragmatic clinical trial provides the strongest evidence to-date that chiropractic care is effective, safe and can be successfully integrated into multidisciplinary health care settings for the treatment of low back pain,” Christine M. Goertz, DC, PhD, told Healio.com/Orthopedics.
Goertz and colleagues performed a three-site pragmatic comparative effectiveness trial of 750 active-duty service members who reported low back pain at two military medical centers and one hospital at a military training site. Patients received either usual care alone, which included medication, physical therapy, self-care and referral to a pain clinic, or usual medical care with chiropractic care, which included spinal manipulative therapy and other therapeutic modes such as manual therapies, rehabilitative exercise or cryotherapy. Both groups were treated for 6 weeks. Primary outcomes included low back pain intensity and disability. Other outcomes included perceived improvement, satisfaction and medical use.
Results showed all models had statistically significant site x time x group interactions. After 6 weeks, the adjusted mean differences in scores for low back intensity, disability and satisfaction favored usual medical care with chiropractic care vs. usual medical care alone. Investigators noted at week 6, the adjusted odds ratio for perceived improvement and self-reported pain medication use also statistically significantly favored usual medical care with chiropractic care compared with usual medical care alone. There were no serious adverse events reported. – by Monica Jaramillo
Disclosures: Goertz reported she received personal fees from Spine IQ and the American Chiropractic Association and owned stock in Prezacor Inc. Please see the full study for all other authors’ relevant financial disclosures.
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