Members of the military perform physically and psychologically demanding jobs every day. Research has found that conservative medical care, like chiropractic treatment, can absolutely help with back pain.
A study has shown that chiropractic treatment brought serious relief to female veterans with back pain.
Causes
The causes of back pain can be viewed as being mechanical, organic or idiopathic. Spinal conditions can be congenital or from birth and can be an acquired disorder that develops later in life.- Mechanical pain is triggered by spinal movement and involves spinal structures, like the facet joints, intervertebral discs, vertebral bodies, ligaments, muscles or soft tissues.
- Organic pain is attributed to disease, like spinal cancer.
- Idiopathic means the cause is unknown.
Back Pain & Female Veterans
Low back pain is a musculoskeletal condition and for female veterans has become a chronic condition. For these women, the condition seems to stem from repeated and prolonged deployments as contributors/causes to more prolonged injuries.Female veterans had a higher rate of service-related disability compared to male veterans.
Having to live with a disease or chronic condition can impact the quality of life significantly. It can result in short- or long-term disability, it affects individuals financially from time off work and reroutes those financial resources to health care needs.
Chiropractic Research
Researchers reviewed 70 female veterans that utilized chiropractic treatment for their back pain.The average patient was:
- Around 35-40-years old
- Visiting a chiropractic clinic over a 7-year period
- Between 18 - 70 years old during treatment
- Needed at least two treatments
Treatments included:
Flexion-distraction therapy
This is gentle intermittent traction, along with manual pressure applied to the back.Myofascial release
Massage therapy to muscles, joints, ligaments.Spinal manipulative therapy
This involves the chiropractor’s hands performing a high-velocity thrust to regions within the low back.Spinal mobilization
Similar to spinal manipulative therapy, but with gentler repetitive motions around the affected area.
These treatments were applied alone or in combination, guided by:
- The nature of the back pain complaint
- Response
- Pain severity
- Patient's preference
- The patient's tolerance of the various treatments
Pain is a complex biological process that involves both physical and mental health factors.
The test is one way to understand the multi-dimensional nature of pain.
Other factors to consider, specifically with military veterans were other health conditions like:
- Post-traumatic stress disorder
- Military sexual trauma
The American College of Physicians Clinical Practice Guidelines includes and stresses that doctors refer patients first to a chiropractor/physical therapist and undergo spinal manipulation as the recommended non-drug treatment for back pain before recommending medications or surgery.
The guidelines focus on:
- Exercise
- Stress reduction
- Integrative therapies
We focus on what works for you and strive to create fitness and better the body through researched methods and total wellness programs. These programs are natural and use the body’s own ability to achieve goals of improvement. To all of our veterans, we thank you for your service.
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