Patient Response to Chiropractic Care and the Effects of Distance Traveled in a Rural Chiropractic Clinic within a Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center:

SPECIFIC AIM 1: To perform a retrospective chart review of all new patients seen in the Chiropractic clinic in the VA Medical Center, Bath, NY from March 1, 2007 through July 1, 2008.

SPECIFIC AIM 2: To report on the 6-8 week (at least 4 visits) outcomes of new patients treated between March 1, 2007 and July 1, 2008 in the Chiropractic Clinic at the VA Medical Center, Bath, NY

Hypothesis 1: Patients who travel greater distance to the Bath VAMC have poorer outcomes in response to treatment as measured by distance traveled and ODI, NDI, Disability ratings

Methods

This review will collect descriptive information on these patients including: gender, age, ethnicity, BMI, co-morbidities, zip code, and distance traveled from home to the Bath VA Medical Center, presenting chief complaint and initial pain as reported by Quadruple Numeric Pain Rating Scale (QRS) and disability rating from Neck Pain Disability and Oswestry Disability Indices. In order to perform a retrospective chart review, descriptive statistics (chiefly mean values and 95% confidence intervals) will be performed on the covariates: age, BMI, co-morbidities, zip code, and distance traveled from home to the Bath VA Medical Center, as well as ODI, NDI, and QRS disability ratings. Values will be looked at globally and stratified by gender, ethnicity, and whether the distance traveled is greater than 30 miles.