Chiropractic Clinical Outcomes Among Older Adult Male Veterans With Chronic Lower Back Pain: A Retrospective Review of Quality-Assurance Data

Objective

The purpose of this study was to determine whether a sample of older adult male U.S. veterans demonstrated clinically and statistically significant improvement in chronic lower back pain on validated outcome measures after a short course of chiropractic care.

Methods

We performed a retrospective review of a quality-assurance data set of outcome metrics for male veterans, aged 65 to 89 years, who had chronic low back pain, defined as pain in the lower back region present for at least 3 months before evaluation. We included those who received chiropractic management from January 1, 2010, to December 31, 2018. Paired t tests were used to compare outcomes after 4 treatments on both a numeric rating scale (NRS) and the Back Bournemouth Questionnaire (BBQ). The minimum clinically important difference (MCID) was set at 30% change from baseline.

Results

There were 217 individuals who met the inclusion criteria. The mean NRS score change from baseline was 2.2 points, representing a 34.1% reduction (t = 13.5, P < .001). The mean score change for BBQ was 14.7 points, representing a 35.9% reduction (t = 16.7, P < .001). The percentage of participants reaching the MCID for the NRS was 57% (n = 124) and for the BBQ was 59% (n = 126), with 41% (n = 90) of the sample reaching the MCID for both the NRS and BBQ.

Conclusion

This retrospective review revealed clinically and statistically significant improvement in NRS and BBQ scores for this sample of older male U.S. veterans treated with chiropractic management for chronic low back pain.