Clinical Review
Measuring Success Rates of Nonsurgical Treatment in Veterans With Chronic Low Back Pain and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Pilot Study
Fed Pract. 2011 May;28(5):16
Author and Disclosure Information
Agnes Wallbom, MD; David Benton, DO; Tara Victor, PhD; Alberto Miranda, MD; Anne Nastasi, MD; Shirley Chi, MD; and Chi-Hong Tseng, PhD
Drs. Wallbom, Miranda, and Nastasi are clinical assistant professors, Drs. Benton and Chi are physicians, and Dr. Tseng is a biostatistician, all at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles. In addition, Drs. Wallbom, Benton, Miranda, and Chi are physicians, Dr. Victor is a pain psychologist, and Dr. Nastasi is the spinal cord injury director, all at the Greater Los Angeles VA Healthcare System in California. Dr. Victor is also an assistant professor at California State University, Dominiguez Hills, in Carson.
Caused by exposure to trauma, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a condition characterized by debilitating fear and anxiety. Of all the mental disorders that were diagnosed in 73,157 veterans following their service in Operation Enduring Freedom and/or Operation Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF), PTSD was the most common at 46%.(1) PTSD frequently occurs with other conditions, including chronic pain(2-4); in fact, existing evidence suggests that individuals who have chronic pain may be particularly vulnerable to developing PTSD.(5)