Retrospective case series of clinical outcomes associated with chiropractic management for veterans with low back pain

Abstract

Musculoskeletal complaints, most notably low back pain (LBP), are prevalent among veterans. Despite a focus on LBP management by chiropractors within the Veterans Health Administration, limited published accounts detail clinical outcomes with chiropractic management of LBP among veterans. This was a retrospective case series of 171 veterans with a chief complaint of LBP who were managed with chiropractic care. Descriptive statistics and paired t-tests were used, with the Numeric Rating Scale (NRS) and the Back Bournemouth Questionnaire (BBQ) serving as the outcome measures. A minimum clinically important difference (MCID) was set as 30% improvement from baseline for both measures. The mean number of treatments was 8.7. For the NRS, the mean raw score improvement was 2.2 points, representing 37.4% change from baseline; 103 (60.2%) patients met or exceeded the MCID. For the BBQ, the mean raw score improvement was 13.6 points, representing 34.6% change from baseline; 92 patients (53.8%) met or exceeded the MCID. For this sample of veterans with LBP, the mean percentages of clinical improvement were statistically significant and clinically meaningful for both the NRS and BBQ.