01/04/2022

Logan University Contributes to Major White Paper on Chronic Pain

Research has shown that chronic pain disproportionally affects low-income adults, women, and adults over 65 years old. As chronic pain may affect one’s biological, psychological, social, and economic state of being, its impact is widespread throughout entire communities. The Saint Louis Regional Health Commission (RHC) is fighting back against this public health epidemic, and Logan clinicians have aided their efforts.

“Addressing Chronic Pain: Integrating Physical Function Services into Community Health Centers” provides a blueprint for community health centers (CHCs) to implement physical function services. These services include treatment therapies that improve healthy moving and functioning and are effective in the management of chronic pain, including chiropractic, occupational therapy, and physical therapy.

Integrating the services of physical function experts like chiropractors into CHCs “may reduce social and financial barriers for patients, as well as decrease the burden placed on the [primary care provider],” the blueprint states. “Providing access to physical function experts will allow for more substantial upstream efforts in treating chronic pain and increases equitable access to effective treatment therapies. This paper provides a blueprint for integrating physical function services into other CHCs beyond the St. Louis region.”

“We know the importance of providing evidence-based, non-pharmacological treatments for chronic musculoskeletal pain, and we felt the intentional inclusion of all disciplines by the RHC in their chronic pain initiative was the perfect way to do that,” said Logan’s Director of Health Policy and Interdisciplinary Care Patrick Battaglia, DC, DACBR.

Sources:

Logan University

Saint Louis Regional Health Commission, “Addressing Chronic Pain: Integrating Physical Function Services into Community Health Centers,” October 2021