Collaborative Care for Chronic Pain in Primary Care - Chiropractic Treatment for Low Back Pain

Chronic pain is common in primary care patients and is associated with distress, disability, and increased health care use.
Cluster randomized controlled trial of a collaborative care assistance with pain treatment intervention vs treatment as usual at 5 primary care clinics of 1 Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Forty-two primary care clinicians were randomized to the assistance with pain treatment intervention group or the treatment as usual group. The 401 patients had musculoskeletal pain diagnoses, moderate or greater pain intensity, and disability lasting 12 weeks or longer and were assigned to the same treatment groups as their clinicians. Recruitment occurred from January 2006 to January 2007 and follow-up concluded in January 2008.
The assistance with pain treatment collaborative intervention resulted in modest but statistically significant improvement in a variety of outcome measures.