Publisher Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., US, has announced that The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine has published a study that says many patients with lower back pain might benefit significantly from an individualised, multidisciplinary, team-based model of care. This includes access to licensed complementary care practitioners (e.g., chiropractors, massage therapists and acupuncturists) in addition to conventional care providers. The article, ‘A Model of Integrative Care for Low-Back Pain,’ is available free online at the journal’s website.
Dr. David M. Eisenberg and colleagues from Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital (Boston, MA), Group Health Research Institute (Seattle, WA), and Brown University (Providence, RI), compared conventional therapy alone — defined as “usual care” — to the combination of an integrated programme of complementary and alternative medical (CAM) therapies plus usual care. They report significant differences between the two randomised patient groups in outcomes which included pain, functional status and difficulty performing routine, self-identified challenging activities.
The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine is a monthly peer-reviewed journal publishing observational, clinical and scientific reports and commentary intended to help healthcare professionals and scientists evaluate and integrate therapies into patient care protocols and research strategies. Complete tables of content and a sample issue may be viewed online at the journal’s website.
