Use of osteopathic or chiropractic services among people with back pain: a UK population survey

Use of osteopathic or chiropractic services among people with back pain: a UK population survey
May 2004
To cite this article: Chi-Keong Ong MSc PhD, Helen Doll MSc, Gerard Bodeker EdD, Sarah Stewart-Brown BMBCh MA PhD FFPHM FRCP (2004)
Use of osteopathic or chiropractic services among people with back pain: a UK population survey
Health & Social Care in the Community 12 (3), 265Ò273.
doi:10.1111/j.1365-2524.2004.00497.x
Blackwell Synergy

Chi-Keong Ong MSc PhD1,2,31Mansfield College, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK, 2Health Services Research Unit, Department of Public Health, University of Oxford, Institute of Health Sciences, Oxford, UK, 3Global Initiative for Traditional Systems (GIFTS) of Health, Green College, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK and , Helen Doll MSc22Health Services Research Unit, Department of Public Health, University of Oxford, Institute of Health Sciences, Oxford, UK, , Gerard Bodeker EdD33Global Initiative for Traditional Systems (GIFTS) of Health, Green College, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK and and Sarah Stewart-Brown44Division of Health in the Community, Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, Warwick, UK BMBCh MA PhD FFPHM FRCP

Keywords: back pain, chiropractor, complementary medicine, osteopath

Abstract

Questionnaires covering health and the use of complementary, alternative and conventional health services were mailed to a random sample of 14 868 adults aged 18Ò64 years living in four counties of England in 1997. The present study examined the use of osteopathy/chiropractic among the 15% (n = 1377) of respondents reporting back pain. Osteopaths/chiropractors were seen by 13.4% (n = 184) of respondents with back pain during the past 3 months compared with 9.8% (n = 135) who consulted physiotherapists. The presence of back pain and non-manual social class were the strongest predictors of consultation with both types of practitioner. Women, older respondents, non-smokers and those who exercised for 30 minutes at least once a week were more likely to use osteopathy/chiropractic. The only other significant predictor of physiotherapy use was desire for more physical exercise. While those reporting back pain had Short-Form 36 (SF-36) scores suggesting very significant levels of disability, respondents with back pain who consulted osteopaths/chiropractors reported better health in all dimensions of the SF-36 than those using physiotherapy services. Although they reported worse pain scores than people not consulting any practitioners, their mental health, physical functioning, energy and health perception were better. It is impossible to disentangle cause and effect in this cross-sectional study, but the data suggest that people who can afford to pay are more likely to choose osteopath/chiropractor treatments than physiotherapy. The possibility that osteopath/chiropractor treatment has a generalised positive effect on health, allowing people with back pain to function better than those not receiving such treatment, warrants further investigation.

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