A new study finds a lower risk of adverse post-treatment outcomes among returning military service personnel with chronic pain who received nondrug therapy
Islamabad (Pakistan Point News / Online - 03rd January, 2020) A new study finds a lower risk of adverse post-treatment outcomes among returning military service personnel with chronic pain who received nondrug therapy.New research shows that some nondrug therapies, including exercise therapy, can help relieve pain in veterans.Many people returning from military deployment experience physical andmental health issues.These can include chronic pain, post-treatment alcohol use disorder, drugaddiction, depression, thoughts of suicide, self-harm, or a combination.
Now, a new study in the Journal of General Internal Medicine concludes that receiving treatment that is not drug-based can reduce the likelihood of such outcomes in veterans with chronic pain.According to the findings, United States Army service members who received nondrug therapy had a "significantly lower" risk of:�alcohol or drug use disorders�accidental poisoning with opioids, related narcotics, barbiturates, or sedatives�thoughts of suicide�self-inflicted injuries, including suicide attemptsThe Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health funded the new research.
Study methodsStatistician and suicide researcher Esther Meerwijk, Ph.D., of the VA Palo Alto Health Care System, in California, led the new study.Meerwijk and colleagues analyzed military health records of 142,539 active Army personnel who had reported chronic pain after deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan in 2008-2014.The scientists included data from up to the end of 2015 in their analysis. The median age of the personnel was 26, and their average tour of duty lasted just over 1 year.
Health issues involving the joints, back and neck, muscles, or bone were the most frequently reported causes of chronic pain.According to the study, 29-44% of the active duty service members reported chronic pain to the Military Health System (MHS), with that number rising to 48-60% among those who went on to receive treatment from the Veterans Health Administration (VHA).The researchers tracked the length of each individual's care, the drug or nondrug therapies that they had received from the MHS, and the number of days, if any, during which they had taken opioids.
The analysis included the following nonpharmaceutical therapies (NPTs) offered by the MHS: "acupuncture [or] dry needling, biofeedback, chiropractic care, massage, exercise therapy, cold laser therapy, osteopathic spinal manipulation, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation and other electrical manipulation, ultrasonography, superficial heat treatment, traction, and lumbar supports."
