Table 1

Table of results for back pain papers.

Author
Reference
Design
N/Np
Main Results

Hurwitz
5
Random sample of chiropractors from 6 sites
185/131 (70%)
68% of charts documented care for LBP; SMT was documented in 83% of charts. Chiropractic use rate has doubled in the past 15 years.
Shekelle
6
Analysis of insurance claims forms from 6 sites
5279
Visit rate for chiropractic was 41 per 100 person-years and rate of use of 7.5%
Cote
8
Mail survey
2184/1131 (55%)
People seeking care for back pain have worse health care status than those who do not.
Kelner
9
Interviews
300
87% of chiropractic patients sought care for LBP, with 77% believing their health care problem was serious in nature.
Walker
10
Mail survey
1768/1913 (69.1%)
55.5% of respondents with LBP in past 6 months did not seek care for it. Increased care seeking was associated with greater pain and disability, fear of pain impacting future activities, and female sex.
Sherman
11
Telephone interviews
249
Chiropractic was used the highest percentage of patients (54%); chiropractic patients had the highest rate of treatment-related discomfort of all groups.
Caswell
12
Self-reporting questionnaires
150
36% of the conventional therapy group had used at least 1 CAM therapy, while 62 of people in the CAM group had used conventional care. The higher the sociodemographic group, the likelier you were to use CAM.
Sundararajan
13
Prospective cohort study
1580
Factors associated with seeing multiple providers included presence of sciatica, higher Roland-Morris score, days to functional recovery and duration of pain prior to first visit.
Scheumier
14
Retrospective/prospective observational study
194 retrospective;
344 prospective
There was a substantial shift of referrals to manipulation practitioners under the scheme. Prospective patients had fewer referrals to secondary care, less drug use, and fewer certififed sickness days. Chiropractors used more x-ray than other practitioners.
Jamison
15
Mail survey
820/230 (27%)
Referral for visceral conditions met with little support; referral for LBP with frequent support
Leboeuf-Yde
16
Patient interviews by chiropractors
96/66 (66%)
82% of patients sought care for LBP; few sought care for visceral problems; most patients had short-term problems.
Cherkin
17
Random sample survey
Acu: 217/133 (61%)
Chiro: 205/130 (63%)
MT: 226/126 (56%)
Naturo:170/99 (58%)
For chiropractic: woman made up 60% of visits; children 4%; older folks 20%; African American and Hispanic <10%; 80% of visits were by self referral; DCs provided equal amounts of chronic and acute care; back symptoms most common reason for seeking care.
Feuerstein
19
Analysis of National Medical Expenditure Studies

Percentage of people receiving chiropractic care was lower in 1997 compared to 1987, while percent of those receiving physical therapy grew.
Mayer
22
Mail survey
450/158 (35%)
~75% of chiropractors use 6 or more exercises for treating patients with LBP
Whitman
23
Interviews
131
There was a significant interaction between time and specialty certification status, but this disappeared on regression analysis.
Smith
24
Claims data analysis
9314 care episodes
Total payments within and across episodes were much greater for medically initiated episodes compared to chiropractic ones.

Lawrence and Meeker Chiropractic & Osteopathy 2007 15:2   doi:10.1186/1746-1340-15-2