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Suicide prevention is just one more among a long list of benefits chiropractic care provides. This news has been recently revealed based on research conducted among U.S. Army service members returning from deployment. The motivation for the study was based on the fact that suicide among our returned service men and women has been going up steadily. For instance, between 2001 and 2014, studies show that “U.S. adult civilian suicides increased 23%, while Veteran suicides increased 32%.”

It is a well-known fact that many people returning from military deployment experience physical and mental health issues, which can include chronic pain, post-treatment alcohol use disorder, drug addiction, depression, thoughts of suicide, self-harm, or any combination. The results of the new study were published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine and concludes that “receiving treatment that is not drug-based can reduce the likelihood of such outcomes in veterans with chronic pain.” https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31659663/

The authors of the study compared 142,539 U.S. Army service members with chronic pain who received nonpharmacological treatments (NPT) with those who did not in order to see if there was a reduction in long-term pain-related adverse outcomes. Almost 25% of the participants received chiropractic care, while physical therapy was conducted on 32% of the participants.

According to the findings, United States Army service members who received nondrug therapy had a “significantly lower” risk of:

• alcohol or drug use disorders
• accidental poisoning with opioids, related narcotics, barbiturates, or sedatives
• thoughts of suicide
• self-inflicted injuries, including suicide attempts

Whether you are a veteran of any branch of the U.S. military or not, chiropractic care offers the same life-saving benefits to anyone experiencing chronic pain. So, please, keep your chiropractor’s telephone number handy as you never know when it can save a life.