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Military Personnel Find Relief from More Chiropractic Care Available in the VA

The spines of our veterans need beneficial care. Veterans need access to chiropractic care - just like their fellow Sitka chiropractic spine pain patients - and now can get it. Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka is the Sitka back pain specialty center for spine pain, back pain, neck pain, arm pain and leg pain relief for Sitka veterans and Sitka back pain patients. Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka offers relieving Sitka chiropractic care to any Sitka back pain patients wanting back pain relief!

WHAT HAPPENS TO THEIR SPINES?

According to Veterans’ Administration (VA) data, “diseases of the musculoskeletal system/connective system” like back pain are the top issues for veterans coming back from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. (1) To what is it attribute? Most of us would assume it’s due to carrying weighty backpacks and weapons. (2) One study points out that back pain is found more in military construction and law enforcement personnel. (3)  Causes of back pain for non-military folks like Sitka residents apply to military, too, like injury, posture, daily activity, weight, stress, genetic defects, etc.

RELIEF FOR A VETERAN

One military officer with a 20-year history of mechanical back pain secondary to an injury suffered while on active military duty felt intermittent radiation of numbness and tingling down the right leg to the knee. Chiropractic care provided him a 25% reduction in low back pain severity and a 22% lessening in his disability. The course of conservative, chiropractic management included 10 treatments of lumbar flexion/distraction and activity modification in 8 weeks. Even though he’d had this pain for some time, he realized relief. (4) After 20 years, such drops in pain and disability would surely be appreciated by Sitka back pain sufferers, too.

BENEFICIAL CHIROPRACTIC CARE FOR VETERANS’ SPINES INSTEAD OF OPIOIDS

1999 marked the year of the US law authorizing the VA to provide chiropractic care via private sector chiropractors. (5) From 2004 (the year the law was passed that chiropractic was to be available the VA system) to 2015, annual chiropractic VA patients increased by 821%, chiropractic visits by 694%, number of clinics by 9%, chiropractic employees by 21%. (5) Currently, 70 VA facilities have chiropractors on staff. (1) Nearly 100 VA facilities still offer little to none. (2) If a VA facility doesn’t have a chiropractor(s) on staff, veterans (if they ask) are able to obtain a referral to a local chiropractor like yours at Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka for care. Many don’t know about this benefit or that they can benefit from chiropractic care. Chiropractic as a profession and your Sitka chiropractic persist in trying to get the word out to the public about how it can help musculoskeletal pain, back pain, sciatica, neck pain and arm radiculopathy, how it can help with pain management. Today, many veterans - like many others in the general population - are having issues with prescription opioid pain drugs. (6) The opioid epidemic is everywhere; chiropractic care may assist in reducing its effects for military veterans as it does for general population Sitka pain patients.

ACCESS TO CHIROPRACTIC EXPANDS IN THE U.S.

Chiropractic researchers try to make sure that military personnel have access to chiropractic care. One group developed an integrated care pathway for doctors of chiropractic, primary care providers, and mental health professionals who manage veterans with low back pain, with or without mental health comorbidity, within Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health care facilities. (7) Lately, the US House endorsed expansion of chiropractic services in the VA. Availability is to rise to at least two medical centers/clinics in each Veterans Integrated Service Network by December 31, 2019, and be at 50% of them by December 31, 2021. (1) Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka values the confidence in chiropractic care this action shows.

CONTACT Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka

Listen to this PODCAST from The Back Doctors’ Podcast about a military veteran with multiple spinal issues whose local chiropractor helped him find relief.

Schedule a Sitka chiropractic appointment for yourself or a loved one – military veteran or not. Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka is well prepared to help alleviate the musculoskeletal spine pain and back pain conditions of all sorts experienced by military personnel and military veterans with chiropractic care.

Sitka chiropractic care helps relieve spine pain and back pain for many locals, and its availability for veterans and military personnel increases in the VA to help more.  
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"This information and website content is not intended to diagnose, guarantee results, or recommend specific treatment or activity. It is designed to educate and inform only. Please consult your physician for a thorough examination leading to a diagnosis and well-planned treatment strategy. See more details on the DISCLAIMER page. Content is reviewed by Dr. James M. Cox I."