Chiropractic management for veterans with neck pain: a retrospective study of clinical outcomes.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to report demographic characteristics, chiropractic treatment methods and frequency, and clinical outcomes for chiropractic management of neck pain in a sample of veteran patients.

METHODS

This is a retrospective case series of 54 veterans with a chief complaint of neck pain who received chiropractic care through a Veterans Health Administration medical center. Descriptive statistics and paired t tests were used with the numeric rating scale and Neck Bournemouth Questionnaire serving as the outcome measures. A minimum clinically important difference was set as 30% improvement from baseline for both outcomes.

RESULTS

The mean number of chiropractic treatments was 8.7. For the numeric rating scale, the mean raw score improvement was 2.6 points, representing 43% change from baseline. For the Neck Bournemouth Questionnaire, the mean raw score improvement was 13.9 points, representing 33% change from baseline. For both measures, 36 (67%) patients met or exceeded the minimum clinically important difference.

CONCLUSION

Mean chiropractic clinical outcomes were both statistically significant and clinically meaningful for this sample of veterans presenting with neck pain.