New York Chiropractic College (NYCC) has received a federal grant in excess of $1.1 million from the Department of Health and Human Services.
The planned study will involve patients at the Canandaigua Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center and at multiple private chiropractic and physical therapy outpatient facilities in Rochester, N.Y. As reported in DC (www.chiroweb.com/archives/24/25/02.html), legislation to expand the chiropractic benefit to all veterans was presented to Congress last year. House Resolution 5202, introduced in April 2006 by Jeb Bradley (R-N.H.) and Bob Filner (D-Calif.), proposed amending the Health Care Programs Enhancement Act of 2001 by requiring that chiropractic benefits be provided at not fewer than 75 VA medical centers by the end of 2008 and at every VA medical center by the end of 2010. While H.R.5202 did not advance to a congressional vote by the time the 109th session ended, making it ineligible for further action, similar legislation is expected to be introduced this year. Currently, less than 30 percent of the nation's VA medical centers have a chiropractor on staff.
Dr. Paul Dougherty, NYCC asso-ciate professor and principal research grant investigator, and colleagues will assess the effectiveness of spinal manipulative therapy and active exercise therapy in the treatment of chronic low back pain. They plan on utilizing a "prediction rule" to help doctors predict which patients would benefit most from spinal manipulative therapy as compared to active exercise therapy. Designed and implemented by a range of professionals, including chiropractors, physical therapists and medical physicians, the study is an interdisciplinary effort that is expected to elicit significant results.
"[This] award will generate important data benefiting the millions of Americans who experience debilitating back pain," said Dr. Frank J. Nicchi, NYCC president. "We are honored to have been selected to work with the Canandaigua VA to carry out this important project."
The grant to NYCC is one of a series of research grants awarded to chiropractic institutions in the past year, marking an overall positive trend toward sizeable grants for chiropractic research. In 2006, Northwestern Health Sciences University and Palmer College of Chiropractic received a $2.4 million grant from the HRSA. And Western States Chiropractic College in Portland, Ore., recently received a $2.8 million grant from the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine - a regular contributor of funds to chiropractic research - to study the treatment of low back pain.
NYCC researchers will begin selecting patients for the low back study beginning in March 2007. For more information, contact Maureen Kuhlman at NYCC's research center: (315) 568-3868.