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The fascia is a layer of connective tissue that supports the framework of the spine and musculoskeletal system. This tissue surrounds the muscles, allowing them to move smoothly against each other. The fascia helps prevent muscles from adhering into one another. However, with direct trauma from an injury, chronic postural stress or overuse of the muscles, myofascial trigger points and myofascial adhesions may develop, commonly known as myofascial pain syndrome. Myofascial pain syndrome, often referred to as trigger joints, is a chronic pain disorder and it is the most frequent cause of undiagnosed or misdiagnosed aches and pains, especially for neck pain, back pain and recurrent headaches. In individuals experiencing the painful disorder, any pressure applied on these sensitive points in the muscles can cause symptoms of pain in unrelated areas of the body, medically known as referred pain. Myofascial pain syndrome can also cause symptoms similar to chest pain or sciatica. While a majority of individuals have experienced muscle tension pain at some point in their lifetime, the pain and discomfort associated with myofascial pain syndrome can be persistent and may worsen over time.
Healthcare assistance is implemented by a practitioner according to every individual’s health concerns and needs. The knowledge and experience of healthcare providers, the medical care preferences of the patient and the facts or evidence regarding the effectiveness of a vast majority of treatments available for specific types of injuries and conditions, are all essential considerations for people when seeking the appropriate healthcare services. Aside from all these medical interests, with the current state of our economy and the unknown future of healthcare in the United States, consumers not only need the best options for relieving their pain and discomfort or promoting their overall health, people also need the best cost-effective treatments available to them. After suffering an injury due to an accident or aggravating a previous condition, a simple medical office visit for neck or back pain can be a tremendous concern for many individuals in terms of cost, often progressing to thousands of dollars in medical expenses and medication dependence. An average visit to a medical office can vary widely in price depending on the doctor and nature of the visit. Even for individuals with insurance coverage, a deductible or large co-pay can rapidly add up to undesirable medical bills.
Chiropractic is a natural form of health care that targets disorders of the musculoskeletal system and the nervous system while focusing on the relation between the body’s structure, primarily the spine, and its functioning. A doctor of chiropractic, or DC, may utilize a variety of treatment approaches depending on the individuals type of injuries or conditions. Through various studies, chiropractic has demonstrated to be a cost-effective alternative treatment option. Chiropractic care contributes to fewer medical expenses because, not only does it relieve the symptoms of an injury or condition, regular spinal adjustments and manual manipulations can actually help prevent further damage or injury as well as prevent the development of numerous conditions, thus avoiding additional medical expenses. When the body is functioning effectively, it has the ability to heal itself. Chiropractic treatment naturally helps restore the body’s own recuperative capabilities to promote a faster, safer rehabilitation process while avoiding side effects. Furthermore, chiropractic helps individuals avoid other costly and often unnecessary medical procedures, including tests, surgery and expensive drugs.
Athletes are at a higher risk of suffering a back injury due to the intense physical activity they participate in. Whether the sport is gymnastics, basketball, football, weight training, or simply all around physical fitness, the spine experiences greater amounts of pressure and stress, twisting, flexion, extension and even bodily impact than an individual whom does not engage in strenuous physical activities. The demanding training and exercises of athletes can place significant amounts of force on the spine which may cause damage or injury to even the best and most fit athletes. Although the entire spine is used during a majority of sports, it is estimated that a considerable amount of athletic injuries are associated with the lumbar spine, or low back. The prevalent rate of low back pain in athletes range from 1 percent to 40 percent. Back injuries in younger athletes are a common circumstance, resulting in 10 percent to 15 percent of individuals. Back pain in athletes can range from a dull, constant ache to a sudden, sharp pain. Acute back pain is characterized by unexpected symptoms which usually last from several days to several weeks. Chronic back pain is identified when the symptoms last for more than three months. Fortunately, there are a variety of treatment options available for athletes experiencing back pain and discomfort. A recent study researched numerous alternative treatments, including chiropractic care, to determine the efficiency of each when treating back symptoms. According to the study, chiropractic treatment showed the most promising results.
The irritating neck pain or back pain symptoms present when waking up in the morning can be a troublesome situation for many. Not to mention how debilitating and impairing the pain and discomfort can be for the individual when the symptoms last throughout the remainder of the day, affecting their work and emotions. Subsequently, if what these individuals have already been through is not enough, imagine what it’s like to return home after a long tiring day, only to realize that the pain is causing the individual to not get a proper night of rest. To first recognize which are the bad sleeping postures and what causes stiffness and pain in the neck and back, you first have to understand the function of the spine. The spine, also known as the backbone or vertebral column, consists of 24 articulating vertebrae. Each vertebra is stacked on top of each other and is connected by muscles and ligaments which help maintain the natural alignment of the spine. The spine is referred to as the most important part of the body because it functions to protect the spinal cord and nerves from shock as well as support the weight of the body to provide an upright posture. In between each vertebra, the spinal discs can be found which primarily function as shock absorbers to protect each bone from rubbing against each other. Also, these act as ligaments to hold together the shape of the spine. A healthy spine extends from the skull to the pelvis in alignment with the head, neck and back when viewed from the front or back. When the spine is viewed from the side, there should be 3 naturally slight curves; the cervical curve (neck area), the thoracic curve (upper back area) and the lumbar curve (lower back area) that form into a natural “S” shape. These curves maintain their normal structure by two groups of muscles; the flexors (front and abdominal muscles) and the extensors (back muscles) which gently hold and pull on the spine, allowing it to have proper mobility.
The beauty of the pushup is that you can do it anywhere, anytime. It's a great all-encompassing exercise that hits not only your arms and chest but also gets a burn going in your core. The only downside is that busting out the same old up-and-down routine day after day can start to feel tedious. So it might be time to switch it up with a few new challenging moves. You'll feel more motivated, diversify the muscle groups you're hitting, and build muscle and strength in places your average-Joe pushup wouldn't even dream of touching. We tapped Anthony J. Yeung C.S.C.S. and strength coach at PUSH Private Fitness in Toluca Lake, CA, to see how many different variations he could come up with.
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Nurses nowadays encounter the common question on how they can prevent or even manage lower back pain. In fact, back complications are one of the most reported occupational health complications for nurses, especially through their retirement years. Many healthcare workers resort to self-medicating with over-the-counter pain relievers but, while these may offer relief from their symptoms, the effects are only temporary. Through several lifestyle changes, many nurses could achieve long-term relief from their lower back pain by managing their symptoms and prevent further low back complications. First, stretching and exercising regularly should be fundamental for a nurse. Staying in a single position for long periods of time, as it’s usual in the healthcare workplace, can place an unequal amount of pressure on the muscles, resulting in muscle weakness and uneven distribution of weight. Stretching frequently on the job can help loosen up tight muscles and temporarily relieve back pain. Then, following a series of stretches with exercise can help regulate and further reduce back pain because it strengthens the structures supporting the back muscles. Engaging in strength training exercises can help keep low back pain away longer. Additionally, stretching and exercising the body enough before symptoms of back pain appear in the fist place can also help prevent back complications from developing.
Many nurses believe that utilizing proper body mechanics while lifting and moving a patient can help prevent injuries from occurring. The truth is that there’s not an exact safe manual for lifting plus, during the rush of a busy day for nurses or other healthcare workers, even if the most suitable body mechanics are used on a specific situation, manually lifting, turning, or transferring patients can often result with injuries to the spine. The effects of an injury might not occur immediately, but the constant overexertion on the structures of the spine can eventually aggravate an injury further and lead to a debilitating condition. Musculoskeletal injuries, also referred to as ergonomic or overexertion injuries, are common among workers in all healthcare settings, from acute care hospitals to long-term care and ambulatory facilities. Nurses, nurses’ aides, orderlies, and attendants frequently experience these type of injuries at a much higher rate than the general population of workers, even more than those who work in construction, mining, and manufacturing settings.
Because many healthcare jobs can be very demanding, always working at peak performance is essential. From a rush into the emergency room to a simple clinical visit, most patients are assisted by healthcare workers even before seeing the doctor, including being the first ones to be exposed to infections and viruses. Getting sick is not an option and nurses need a healthy and strong immune system to stay well and do their job. The human body is designed to remain healthy. When the immune system is functioning to its fullest capacity, it’s intended to fight off, hunt down and destroy foreign organisms and viruses. But, if the immune system is functioning at less than its best, the individual’s health is at risk and as a health professional, so are those individuals that depend on their care. By incorporating chiropractic into your lifestyle, one can learn a healthy new habit for improving and achieving the maximum potential of overall wellness.
Prolonged standing and walking for healthcare workers can cause or aggravate previous health complications and soft tissue injuries and its effects can usually become instantly noticeable. An abundance of individuals often experience swollen or painful feet or legs, bunions or bony bumps that develop on the joint at the base of the big toe, plantar fasciitis, Achilles tendinitis, varicose veins, knee complications, low back pain, neck and shoulder stiffness, poor posture and the effects that follow, restricted blood flow, heightened risk of knee or hip arthritis and, muscle soreness and fatigue. Through many healthcare jobs, as well as with other types of jobs, standing is frequently a normal component within a healthcare worker’s day but, when the physical layout or work practices of a task require individuals to reach across wide surfaces in uncomfortable positions or repetitively participate in tasks without breaks, individuals may be at a higher risk of developing musculoskeletal injuries or conditions. Additionally, standing can be much worse when the individual has limited space to move around or while working on hard surfaces and/or wearing unsuitable footwear.
“Healthcare in the U.S. and the VA has operated on a ‘find it, fix it’ reactive disease model,” Gaudet said in a recent interview. “What we’re undertaking is truly a paradigm shift that promotes health and wellness.” As compared to initiating with a patient’s suggested complication or attempting to identify a condition early in its development, Tracy Gaudet believes healthcare providers should begin by understanding the veteran and their ambitions. She explains that medical staff at the VA shouldn’t be asking, “what’s the matter?”, rather, they should be asking, “what matters to you?”. The goal of complete health at the VA is to assist all veterans in order to determine their basic health achievement goals and desires and to also help them focus on all the areas of their lives that affect their health and don’t allow them to reach those goals. “It’s not just a ‘feel good’ program,” Gaudet noted, “but an approach informed by evidence that makes use of all appropriate therapeutic approaches as well as emphasizing self-care at all points along the spectrum of health and disease.” This approach often takes veterans out of the clinic. The nine-week, peer-to-peer program emphasizes on guiding veterans through various questions to encourage them to discuss why they want to be healthy, what they want to accomplish and the kinds of relationships they want to have. According to Tracy Gaudet, the results have been astounding. Many veterans have found meaning and purpose in their lives again and connected to healthier lifestyles through these new programs being available at Veterans Affairs clinics. Veterans can then follow through with other available programs to help them reduce stress like meditation or they can increase their overall fitness levels. Additionally, as their health improves, the cost of caring for them drops. The complete health approach encourages veterans to make continuous changes in their health and life which may involve working on their closest relationships.
Fibromyalgia symptoms are presumed to occur subsequently from physical or emotional trauma where there’s been considerable psychological stress, after surgery, or as a result of an infection. In several cases, the symptoms can also progressively accumulate over time without a single event to trigger them. The widespread pain that most frequently accompanies fibromyalgia sufferers can be described as a continuous, dull ache which has lasted for a minimum of three months. Other symptoms for fibromyalgia include fatigue, where the individual awakes feeling tired despite sleeping for long periods of time, restless leg syndrome or sleep apnea as a result of an interrupted sleep, cognitive difficulties, and other complications, such as depression, headaches and pain or cramping in the lower abdomen. For years, traditional pain relievers such as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and the opioids like Morphine, have been used as a form of treatment for fibromyalgia but due to the drug’s high probability of dependency as a source for pain and symptom relief, especially over long term use, opioids are not recommended by any current guidelines for the treatment of fibromyalgia symptoms. Fibromyalgia is not a fatal or terminal disease but its symptoms of chronic pain where the pain can recur throughout an individual’s lifetime can often be a common reason for drug abuse and addiction. Despite the absence of recommendations and studies that prove the benefit of opioids in fibromyalgia, currently about 30% of Canadian and American patients with fibromyalgia report to using opioids for pain relief. Studies have shown that individuals who use and abuse opioids tend to have more severe pain, a more severe impairment in daily functioning as well as the presence of mood disorders compared to those who did not use opioids. Several alternatives for treating the symptoms of fibromyalgia include physical therapy and chiropractic care to relieve chronic pain naturally.
Many clinicians at the VA frequently argue whether chiropractic treatment methods, such as spinal adjustments and manual manipulations, are actually effective towards improving injuries and conditions causing chronic back pain. A new research was conducted to determine the effects chiropractic care had with chronic pain symptoms. While the study concluded that spinal adjustments and manual manipulations were similarly as effective as placebo for pain relief, the study did find that individuals demonstrated an increased improvement in disability at 12 weeks after receiving consistent chiropractic treatment, according to a report published in the journal, “Geriatric Orthopedic Surgery & Rehabilitation”. With the contribution of Paul Dougherty, DC, a staff chiropractor at the Canandaigua VA Medical Center in upstate New York, the authors of the study described that the almost identical improvements between the individuals of the different study groups suggested the presence of a non-specific therapeutic effect from the treatments. For the study, researchers classified 136 veterans, 65 years old or older, with lower back pain whom had never received chiropractic treatment. The individuals were then divided into two separate groups, with 69 of the veterans receiving spinal adjustments and manual manipulations. Dougherty explained, “spinal manipulative therapy, or SMT, is where you take a joint to its end range. When you crack your knuckles and squeeze them together, you hear the pop. That pop is the joint changing pressure. SMT is basically doing that, taking a joint that isn’t moving enough and trying to maneuver it to where it moves normally again and changes pressure.” The other 67 veterans participating in the study were enrolled in a procedure known as sham intervention, where a water-based ultrasound gel is spread across the lower back while the individuals lay face down, followed by the chiropractor rubbing a detuned ultrasound machine across the affected area for approximately 10 minutes. The ultrasound machine made noise but did not transmit any sound waves. Additionally, the participating veterans from both groups were given an educational pamphlet from the Arthritis Foundation on different varieties of back pain and other symptoms. After four weeks of twice-a-week treatment, the individuals were evaluated on the fifth week to rate their pain on a standardized scale. Both groups showed comparable pain improvement. Paul Dougherty explained that pain is perception-based, originating equally from the mind as it does from the body, but that disability is a better measure of effectiveness. Dougherty quoted, “Twice a week for four weeks, we met with these patients. We talked to them about their pain. They were touched in a caring and meaningful way. It comes down to this: If people believe they’re going to get better, it changes the way they thing about pain.”
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When a worker suffers harm while on the job, they are supported by the worker’s compensation insurance. Medical bills are taken care of and the worker is compensated for lost wages from missed days at work after their injuries. After being injured, the worker’s priority is to restore their health and return to work as soon as possible. Many individuals with symptoms of pain and discomfort resulting from an injury or aggravated condition from a work injury may overuse their need for prescription killers, especially opioids, through the worker’s compensation system. The use of these drugs has increased tremendously over the past several years, regardless of their benefit. While prescription drugs may provide a temporary relief from a variety of symptoms affecting an individual, these don’t address the problem at its source and their use for relief as a long-term solution is debatable. Fortunately, as the use of narcotic painkillers has risen, so too has the interest in more natural, alternative treatment options.
According to the National Fibromyalgia Association, the painful disorder affects approximately 10 million individuals, mostly women, in the United States alone. Researchers believe that fibromyalgia amplifies pain sensations by altering the way the brain processes pain signals. The severity of fibromyalgia symptoms can vary from one individual to the next and these may even fluctuate in a single person depending on various triggering factors, however, pain and fatigue are nearly always present. Several individuals report feeling discomfort in a single or multiple yet specific areas of their bodies while others describe overall pain in their muscles and other soft tissues, such as tendons and ligaments, that has lasted for at least three months. Widespread pain is identified when it occurs on both sides of the body and both above and below the waist. The grade of pain associated with fibromyalgia can range from aching, tenderness and throbbing sensations to sharper, shooting and stabbing sensations. Intense burning, numbness, and tingling sensations may also be present. Some individuals affected with fibromyalgia only experience mild cases of fatigue, but many describe feeling entirely physically and mentally drained. Waking up tired often despite sleeping for long periods of time is occurs frequently among people affected with the condition. Sleep may also be disrupted by the pain many individuals experience and other sleeping disorders, such as restless leg syndrome and sleep apnea, can develop alongside common fibromyalgia symptoms. The excessive exhaustion in these people can begin interfering with all their daily activities, affecting their quality of life.
Adult scoliosis, medically referred to as degenerative scoliosis, is distinguished by an unnatural, side-to-side curvature of the spine caused by a degeneration of the facet joints, which give the back flexibility and enable the spine to bend and twist smoothly. This condition occurs most frequently among individuals over 65 years of age. The characteristic scoliosis curve that generally forms into a “C” shape, commonly develops in the lumbar spine. Many individuals are more familiar with adolescent scoliosis, also called idiopathic scoliosis, but the differences between the two conditions aren’t fully understood by the general population. Idiopathic scoliosis occurs in children and adolescents, typically ranging from 10 to 18 years of age and its cause still remains unknown to experts. In more severe cases of the condition, the lateral shift of the spine can progress immediately as the child grows, often requiring the utilization of a scoliosis brace or even surgery to slow down or stop the unnatural side-to-side curvature of the spine. Unlike adolescent or idiopathic scoliosis, there is a known cause for adult or degenerative scoliosis. Degenerative scoliosis is caused by a gradual deterioration of the facet joints found in the back due to aging, the same type of process which leads to osteoarthritis of the spine. However, when scoliosis occurs in older adults, the pressure that builds up from the degenerating facet joints is known to be the leading cause for the once naturally straight spine, as viewed from the back, to begin abnormally shifting laterally, curving to one side.
Carpal tunnel syndrome is a frequently diagnosed medical condition, characterized by pain, numbness and tingling sensations in the hand and arm. The well-known condition develops when one of the major nerves which runs through the hand, medically referred to as the median nerve, is compressed or impinged as it travels through the carpal tunnel, a narrow passageway within the wrist that is surrounded by rigid tissues, making it minimally capable of stretching or increasing in size. The median nerve originates from a bundle of nerve roots found in the neck. These roots merge into a single nerve in the arm, where it then travels down the arm and forearm, passing through the carpal tunnel at the wrist and into the hand. This main nerve functions to provide feeling in the thumb and index, middle and ring fingers. The median nerve is also in charge of controlling the muscles around the base of the thumb. Carpal tunnel syndrome is a common condition which may occur due to a variety of factors. Research shows that women and older individuals have a higher chance of developing this uncomfortable condition.
The connection between people with OA and their ability to sleep is indisputable. The arthritis pain, common with the condition, can make getting a good night’s rest challenging for anyone. The symptoms related with osteoarthritis are definitely an important element behind many individual’s interrupted sleep, but researchers have found that the relationship among osteoarthritis and sleep is much more complex. Rather than OA causing insomnia, the two conditions are believed to coexist. A 2012 study published in the journal SLEEP, evaluated the quality of sleep in people who reported symptoms of chronic pain, including those with osteoarthritis. The researchers found that the amount of pain individuals were in before going to bed had little to do with how well they slept through the night. Additionally, the study concluded that an individual’s sleep quality the night before predicted how much pain they would be in the next day. People who slept inadequately experienced more pain the following day, according to the research. Researchers believe that a lack of sleep may actually produce inflammatory pathways which may aggravate arthritis pain. Michael V. Vitiello, PhD, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of Washington in Seattle stated, “Poor sleep can also make you more sensitive to the feeling of pain. It’s not that the disturbed sleep makes you achy per say, but the disturbed sleep changes your perception of pain.”
During a nurse’s routine rounds, it only takes one incorrect move, one improper lift, one sudden twist to unexpectedly suffer a back injury. Back pain is one of the most frequent causes of pain among the general population, where approximately 80 percent of individuals are likely to experience at least one case of acute back pain in their lifetime. In the United States alone, about 25% of the population account to having had a minimum of one day of lower back pain within the past three months. Additionally, lower back pain is the fifth leading cause for individuals to seek medical attention. However, the prevalence of back complications among nurses or other healthcare workers is even greater. Registered nurses and nursing assistants are among the top six occupations at greater risk for musculoskeletal injury. According to data collected by the American Nurses Association, more than half of nurses report experiencing symptoms of chronic back pain. Furthermore, approximately 12 percent of the nursing workforce reported leaving the profession due to chronic back pain.
A study conducted in an acute care facility in Hong Kong to determine the occurrence of back pain in nurses reported that 80.9% of the participating individuals suffered from some form of back pain throughout their careers with one third of them experiencing back pain at least once a month. The study also concluded that the contributing factors for back injuries among those nurses were caused from lifting and transferring patients, where stooping was recognized at the most common factor contributing to back complications. Most diagnosed cases of back pain were reported on orthopedic wards, closely followed by elderly or geriatric nursing. According to the study, back pain as a result of standing for extended periods of time was not considered significant. Another study conducted to determine the impact of back pain in nurses concluded that depression is associated with chronic low back pain and other symptoms which could exhibit as low morale and lower job performance among nurses. Additionally, the study also showed that two thirds of the nurse sample population suffered from back pain more than twice a year.
A nurse’s job can be very demanding, specifically in the hospital setting, where they must focus on applying intense intellectual and physical requirements over extended periods of time. Studies have shown that in a given year, approximately half of all nurses will have struggled with some form of back complication. In fact, a recent research published in two journals, The American Journal of Nursing and Clinical Nurse Specialist, declared that when nurses suffer, so do their patients. The researchers of the study created a questionnaire for registered nurses working in hospital settings, which asked them about their personal health and the level to which their injuries or illnesses seemed to affect their work. After evaluating more than 1,000 answers, the researchers found that nearly 20 percent of the nurses questioned presented symptoms of depression, a prevalence twice as high as that of the general population. Additionally, approximately three-quarters of the nurses experienced some grade of physical pain due to a muscle sprain or strain while at work.
According to the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, or NIOSH, more than 24 percent of all injuries associated with the workplace and illnesses requiring individuals to miss days from work are due to back complications. As a matter of fact, healthcare workers have 4.5 times as many back injuries caused by overexertion than any other type of worker. In addition, a performance improvement alliance consisting of more than 2,600 U.S. hospitals and more than 84,000 other healthcare sites known as Premier, national statistics demonstrated that six of the top ten professions with the highest chance for back injuries are nurse’s aides, licensed practical nurses, registered nurses, health aides, radiology technicians, and physical therapists. Among nurses, more than one one third of back complications are associated with the handling of patients and the frequency in which they are required to manually move patients. From a worldwide perspective, back injuries to nurses have a point prevalence of approximately 17 percent, an annual prevalence of 40-50 percent, and a lifetime prevalence of 35-80 percent. These are only the accounted rates for reported incidents as many individuals working under healthcare jobs can experience back pain and other symptoms and never receive medical attention. Back complications are a world-wide issue as other studies from Greece, China, and Denmark have recently showed the relation between nurses and back injuries, to name a few.
According to a recent Public Citizen Report, the healthcare workplace is one of the most common industries where injuries or illnesses occur, with 653,000 nurses, aides, orderlies and others, become injured or fall ill every year. Approximately 45 percent of all workplace incidents in the United States which result in lost workdays occur in the healthcare sector. Among attendants, orderlies, and nursing aides in a 2011 study, the incidence rate of injuries requiring days off work was 486 cases per 10,000 employees, over four times higher than the national average for all workers. More musculoskeletal injuries are suffered by orderlies, attendants, nurses and nursing aides than workers in any other industry. Back injuries in the healthcare industry are estimated to cost over $7 billion every year. Although healthcare workplaces are considered to have a higher risk of injury or illness than any other type of workplace, OSHA (the Occupational Safety and Health Administration) offers a few inspections of healthcare facilities. The authors of the report additionally explained that when OSHA does find safety problems, there’s often not much they can do as a result of the absence of much needed safety standards. In 2010, there were 152,000 workplace injuries and illnesses in the manufacturing sector in comparison to a massive 653,000 in healthcare. OSHA is attempting to better address the injury rates among nursing home workers with a National Emphasis Program (NEP), which will focus on addressing ergonomic stressors, falls, trips, slips, and workplace violence, as well as tuberculosis and blood borne pathogens. In conclusion, the report recommends for OSHA to considerably increase its number of inspections of healthcare facilities as well as pursue binding standards in order to ensure that workers are protected from the risks of developing musculoskeletal injuries and/or disorders and other types of threats that could greatly affect the overall wellbeing of healthcare workers.
Lt. Col. Scott Griffith, MD, and Army’s pain management consultant, quoted in a recent interview, “Chronic pain can be very challenging so we focus a lot on their functionality, being able to restore their function as well as bringing their pain down to the extent that we can. Even for people who cannot have their pain eliminated, many of them can have an improvement in the quality of their life.” For military healthcare providers, managing acute and chronic pain has become a tremendous problem than ever before. In a June 2014 report in JAMA Internal Medicine, of 2,597 evaluated individuals, researchers found that 44 percent of troops experienced chronic pain symptoms after being deployed for combat while 15.1% of those individuals reported regularly using opioids. Furthermore, Veterans Affairs administrators gave a testimony before a Congress hearing that chronic pain was among the most common medical complication in veterans returning from the last decade of conflict. The frequent cause for chronic pain is due to musculoskeletal injury, which is usually unrelated to battlefield wounds. Causes for musculoskeletal injury include training and job performance with the use of increasingly heavy protective equipment as well as sports and recreation. The challenge for federal medicine providers still lies on relieving chronic pain symptoms among active duty military members and veterans while also decreasing the chance of opioid addiction and abuse among individuals. In 2003, the Defense & Veterans Center for Integrative Pain Management (DVCIPM) was established to support and regulate pain research and education as well as improving pain management methods. Six years later, the Army surgeon general organized a pain task force membership that included representatives from military services, TRICARE and VHA, to give guidance and approval for a comprehensive pain management strategy. That same task force distributed a report in May 2010 recommending the military to use a holistic, multimodal and multidisciplinary approach to pain management, including complementary and alternative medicine. Through the project, the VA will analyze the extent and cost-effectiveness of complementary and alternative medicine utilization among veterans being treated at the Veterans Affairs Medical Clinics for musculoskeletal disorder-related pain and other related conditions. On a wider spectrum, changes in drug development are giving clinicians other means to helping active-duty service members and veterans as well as others avoid opioid addiction.
The Foundation for Chiropractic Progress (F4CP) outlined the inclusion of chiropractic services by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) as a portion of the standard medical benefits package which has been provided to all eligible veterans for approximately 10 years. Researchers from the VA Connecticut Healthcare System published a study in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, conducted to demonstrate the substantial growth in the utilization of chiropractic services and the chiropractic workforce in the VA within a decade. According to the new study, the annual number of chiropractic visits increased by roughly 700 percent, indicating that more veterans have increased access to chiropractic care then ever before. The lead author of the study, Anthony J. Lisi, CD, Director of the Veterans Affairs Chiropractic Program and Chiropractic Section Chief at the Veterans Affairs Connecticut Healthcare System, stated, “Our work shows that the VA has steadily and substantially increased its use of chiropractic services each year following their implementation in late 2004.” He added, “VA chiropractic care evidence-based, patient-centered treatment options that are in demand by veterans and referring providers. VA continues its efforts to ensure appropriate access to chiropractic care across the whole system, but as this study shows, the progress to date has been remarkable.”
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The human spine consists of many bones, joints and other complex tissues, including a broad structure of interwoven and layered muscles. The muscles surrounding the spine are essential towards the body’s overall stability. However, with direct trauma from an injury, chronic postural stress or overuse of the muscles, myofascial trigger points and myofascial adhesions may develop, commonly known as myofascial pain syndrome. For more information, please feel free to ask Dr. Jimenez or contact us at (915) 850-0900.