Patients experience improvements in pain and quality of life when treated at a physician led integrative medicine clinic at a large air force military treatment facility

Objective: A large percentage of military treatment facilities (MTFs) offer at least one type of complementary medicine and 80 % of patients surveyed felt that integrative therapies should be routinely offered at all MTFs. We are the first to offer the breadth of modalities outlined below in a dedicated MTF Integrative Medicine Clinic (IMC). The purpose of this study was to determine whether the basket of services offered at our IMC improved patient pain and quality of life. Design and Setting: Patient outcomes over a three-year period were retrospectively evaluated from a single cohort. Patients referred to the IMC for chronic pain at the MTF recorded pain scores using the Defense and Veterans Pain Rating Scale (DVPRS) and completed the Dallas Pain Questionnaire (DPQ), a 16-item visual analog quality of life questionnaire, at each visit. They also completed a non-validated quality of life question on discharge from the clinic. Modalities used include microcurrent therapies, extracorporeal shockwave therapy, medical Acupuncture, myofascial release techniques, low-level laser therapy, and the AllCore360. Results: 761 patients were seen from August 2019 to October 2022 in over 3280 clinic visits. On average per visit, DVPRS scores were reduced from 4.4 to 1.5 (MD 2.9; 95 %CI, 2.7–3.1). Total DPQ scores were reduced by 16.5 % (MD 27.7; 95 %CI 22.7–32.7). On discharge from the clinic 81 % of patients reported their quality of life was either “a lot better” or “somewhat better.” Conclusions: If implemented, we believe comparable clinics across the Department of Defense can replicate these improvements in patient-oriented outcomes.