Veterans Response to Dosage in Chiropractic Therapy

Summary

This study evaluates how Veterans with chronic low back pain (cLBP) respond to varying doses of chiropractic therapy and how health services utilization are impacted as a result.

There are 2 phases in this study. In Phase 1, half of participants will receive a low dose (1-5 visits) of chiropractic care for 10 weeks, while the other half will receive a higher dose (8-12 visits) for 10 weeks. At the end of Phase 1, participants in each group will be randomized again to receive either chronic chiropractic pain management (CCPM) (1 scheduled chiropractic visit per month x 10 months) or no CCPM for 10 months.

Conditions

• Low Back Pain
• Patient Acceptance of Health Care
• Veterans Health

Interventions

OTHER

Chiropractic Care

Chiropractic interventions: 1. Patient education. 2. Passive interventions, such as spinal manipulation and myofascial therapies which include thrust type (high velocity-low amplitude) spinal manipulation for the low back, non-thrust manipulation (joint mobilization), and use of manually held instruments, such as an Activator. Myofascial therapies are also commonly used, such as myofascial release and trigger point therapy. 3. Transitional interventions, such as therapeutic exercise. 4. Recommendations for active interventions, such as general exercise and mind-body therapies. 5. Self-management advice, which refers to advice given to build the capacity of a person to self-monitor, control, and/or reduce the impact of a condition over time.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Yale University

  collaborator OTHER

• University of Iowa

  collaborator OTHER

• Dartmouth College

  collaborator OTHER

• VA Connecticut Healthcare System

  collaborator FED

• Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Medical Center

  collaborator FED

• Iowa City VA Health Care System

  collaborator FED

• VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System

  collaborator FED

• Office of Research on Women's Health (ORWH)

  collaborator NIH

• National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH)

  collaborator NIH

• Duke University

  collaborator OTHER

• Palmer College of Chiropractic

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Christine Goertz, DC, PhD · Duke University

• Cynthia Long, PhD · Palmer Center for Chiropractic Research (PCCR)

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

Masking

DOUBLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2021-02-22

Primary Completion

2025-05-20

Completion

2025-05-20

Countries

• United States

Study Locations