The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has been publishing the quarterly Journal of Rehabilitation Research and Development (JRRD) since 1984. And while the JRRD is read by a wide variety of health care providers, it had never published a paper on chiropractic until the October 1997 issue, when a "special issue" on low back pain included the paper: "Use of Chiropractic Manipulation in Lumbar Rehabilitation."1
The paper is a thorough review, including not only the scientific literature supporting chiropractic care, but solidly presenting the rationales for using chiropractic for low back pain rehabilitation in the VA population.
Topics included in the paper are:
- science of manipulation
- skill in manipulation
- types of procedures
- transition from passive care
- discopathy and radiculopathy
- facet disorders
- sacroiliac syndrome
- manipulation of postsurgical rehabilitation
This article is complete with photographs of chiropractic adjustments performed on patients and references to 66 supporting studies, most of which were conducted by chiropractors.
The paper concludes:
"The rationale for using chiropractic manipulation as a component of the rehabilitation treatment plan for appropriate cases is strongly supported when the therapeutic goals are compared with the evidence of clinical benefits."
Chiropractic is currently involved in a three-year "military demonstration project" that will determine if chiropractic will be included in the care regimen of U.S. military personnel. This paper goes a long way towards providing VA policymakers and health care providers with a detailed scientific reason to include chiropractor on the military health care team.
1. Triano JJ, McGregor M, Skogsbergh DR. Use of chiropractic manipulation in lumbar rehabilitation. J Rehabil Res Dev 1997;34:394-404.
