Preliminary Findings of a Randomized Controlled Trial of an Interdisciplinary Military Pain Program

Abstract

Chronic pain related to musculoskeletal conditions is the leading cause of medical discharge from active duty military service. The present study is the first randomized controlled trial of an interdisciplinary pain treatment program (functional restoration, FR) to decrease chronic musculoskeletal pain and increase functioning in an active duty military population. Sixty-six military participants were randomly assigned to either an FR treatment group or a standard anesthesia pain clinic treatment comparison group. A repeated measures design was employed and data were analyzed for pre- to post-treatment differences, as well as for 6-months and 1-year post-treatment outcomes. Findings revealed significantly greater improvements for the FR group on self-reported pain, disability, functional status, and fitness for military duty at the post-treatment and follow-up points, relative to the comparison group. These results clearly demonstrate the efficacy and military relevance of a FR program for active duty military personnel who have chronic musculoskeletal pain disorders.

Health Care Utilization After Interdisciplinary Chronic Pain Treatment: Part II. Preliminary Examination of Mediating and Moderating Factors in the Use of Costly Health Care Procedures

“…Please review Gatchel et al. () for a more extensive demographic breakdown of study participants and for further details about assessment procedures and outcomes.…”

Managing chronic pain in elderly patients requires a CHANGE of approach

“…It therefore follows that a multidisciplinary approach is recommended to investigate all possible options for optimal management, including (1) pharmacotherapy, (2) psychological support, (3) physical rehabilitation, and (4) interventional procedures 34 . A number of studies and reviews have shown this approach to be more effective than standard, non-multidisciplinary care in reducing pain and emotional distress, and improving function [43][44][45][46] . Ideally, multidisciplinary care should also involve the patient's family and any carers, and be adapted to the patient's individual needs.…”

Improving stress reduction and wellness in interdisciplinary chronic pain management: Is transdisciplinary care a better option?

“…Collaborative teams of pain management professionals range in scope from a simple combination of psychological and physical rehabilitation practitioners (Gatchel et al., ) to a broad team including physical medicine, rehabilitation, psychology, biofeedback, nursing, and case management (Stanos & Houle, ). Although the scope of treatment teams varies across multidimensional clinical programs, there has been almost universal agreement about the need to meaningfully integrate these components into a cohesive program of intervention and research.…”

“…Indeed, hundreds of papers have been published describing the beneficial socioeconomic outcomes of interdisciplinary chronic pain management (Poulain et al., ), the incremental benefit of ICPM after low back surgery (Caby, Vanvelcenaher, Letombe, & Pelayo, ), and the superiority of ICPM to less complex intervention strategies (Roche‐Leboucher et al., ). Furthermore, interdisciplinary pain management has even been shown to be effective in uniquely complex populations like the military (Gatchel et al., ; McGeary, McGeary, Moreno, & Gatchel, ; Pujol et al., ).…”

“…There is very little guidance about the ideal scope of an ICPM team, although some research has shown compelling evidence for programs of smaller scope (cf. Gatchel et al., ). Regardless, it is quite clear that communication and care integration is a key ingredient in ICPM effectiveness and any alternatives to interdisciplinary care need to strongly consider treatment integration.…”