An article published in the Spine on April 15th has shown that treating back pain with standard medical care and chiropractic manipulative therapy gives quicker and better result than treating it with only standard medical care. The combination of the medical practices in treating back pain also improves physical functioning.

The study was conducted with 91 participants who were military personnel in active duty within the age limit of 18 and 35 years old. The fund for the study was gotten from a grant issued by Samueli Institute, Alexandria, Virginia. It was conducted at William Beaumont Army Medical Center (WBAMC) from February 2008 to June 2009.

A doctor of chiropractic, Christine Goertz, Ph.D, the principal investigator of the study, noted that enough studies have not been carried out to establish the role of chiropractic care in the treatment of low back pain in health care establishments. The study according to her was the first conducted in that regard. According to report of the study, the military patients that received chiropractic care improved on their low back pain.

Commenting on the research, the Chief of the Interdisciplinary Pain Management Center at WBAMC, Col. Richard Petri considered the study a remarkable step that recognized the importance of chiropractic practices in the military. Further study in the same area according to him would lead to improved health care delivery system.

According to Dr. Goertz, the result of the study was highly exciting. However, she noted that there was still a need to replicate the study on a larger scale in order to confirm the finding. Sequel to this a four year grant of $7.4 million was given to Palmer College, Samueli Institute and RAND Corporation by the Department of Defense in order to replicate the research in a large scale. The number of people to be examined in these studies is 750 active-duty military personnel.

The Palmer College of Chiropractic headquartered in its Davenport Campus, has three campuses, namely, the Davenport campus in Iowa, Port Orange campus, Florida and San Jose California campus. As the biggest chiropractic research institution, the college has promoted leadership and excellence in scientific research. The college’s budget for research in a chiropractic college is the largest. It receives grant from several institutions including The US Health Resources and Services Administration, National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Alternative Medicine and the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program. The grants amounted to $35 million since 2000.

Samueli Institute is another institution that funds the chiropractic research. It is a non-profit research organization that offer support to the scientific research on healing processes and their role in health care and medicine.

The report of this study as published in the Spine contained only the view, findings and opinions of the author(s). Thus, it should not be seen as the official Department of the Army decision, policy or position. Read more information about Chiropractic visit http://www.ortegachiropractic.com/