Palmer College of Chiropractic

Clinics

What Chiropractic Patients Report

Patient Satisfaction with Chiropractic

For more than 100 years, patients have reported good results from chiropractic care. As a result, chiropractic is now the second largest of three primary health care providers -- medicine, chiropractic and osteopathy -- in the United States. More than 50,000 doctors of chiropractic in the United States serve more than 20 million patients, and the use of chiropractic is growing worldwide.

Most Common Conditions for Chiropractic Patients*:

Routinely Seen:

• Spinal subluxation/joint dysfunction
• Headaches

Often Seen:

• Muscular strain/tear
• Osteoarthritis/degenerative joint disease
• Peripheral neuritis or neuralgia
• Tendinitis/tenosynovitis
• Radiculitis or radiculopathy
• High or low-blood pressure
• Vertebral facet syndrome
• Intervertebral disc syndrome
• Sprain or dislocation of any joint
• Extremity subluxation/joint dysfunction
• Allergies
• Hyperlordosis of cervical or lumbar spine
• Obesity
• Bursitis or synovitis

* From the Job Analysis of Chiropractic published by the National Board of Chiropractic Examiners

Recently, studies have verified patients' high level of satisfaction with chiropractic. Here are just two examples.

1. From the Manga Report to the Ontario, Canada, Ministry of Health (August 1993):

"In our view, the constellation of the evidence of: the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of chiropractic management of low-back pain; the untested, questionable or harmful nature of many current medical therapies; the economic efficiency of chiropractic care for low-back pain compared with medical care; the safety of chiropractic care; and the higher satisfaction levels expressed by patients of chiropractic, together offers an overwhelming case in favor of much greater use of chiropractic services in the management of low-back pain.

There should be a shift in policy to encourage and prefer chiropractic services for most patients with low-back pain . . . a very good case can be made for making chiropractors the gatekeepers for management of low-back pain in the workers' compensation system."

2. From "Patient Evaluations of Low-Back Pain Care from Family Physicians and Chiropractors" Cherkin, D.C., and MacCormack, F.A., Western Journal of Medicine (March 1989):

The authors used a survey to compare what patients of chiropractors and family physicians had to say about their experiences in seeking help for low-back pain. The patients belonged to a 40-year-old health maintenance organization (HMO) in the state of Washington. Two groups of patients were compared. All reported back problems during a two-week period in April 1986 -- 359 saw a family physician and a matched group of 348 saw a chiropractor.

• Although similar proportions of patients were "very satisfied" with care for other problems provided by family physicians or chiropractors, back pain patients reported being "very satisfied" three times as often (66- vs. 22-percent) after chiropractic care.
• Days of disability ("inability to carry out normal activities") during the eight-month period between initial visit and survey date was significantly higher for family physician patients (mean 39.7, median 7) than for chiropractic patients (mean 10.8, median 0). Some 48 percent of family physician patients reported disability for more than a week compared to 17 percent of chiropractic patients.
• Chiropractic patients felt they received more information about the cause of pain, the period of recovery and how to care for their backs after the visit. Family physician patients were "significantly less likely" to feel they had adequate instruction on exercise, posture and lifting techniques.

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