Chiropractic Facts and Figures
- Created inNewsletter Library,Wellness
As evidence supporting the effectivenessof chiropractic continues to emerge, consumers are turning in record numbersto chiropractic care â a preventive, non-surgical, drug-free treatmentoption.
Just a few interesting facts on thisincreasingly popular form of health care:
- Chiropractic is the largest, mostregulated, and best recognized of the complementary and alternative medicine(CAM) professions. (Meeker, Haldeman; 2002; Annals of InternalMedicine)
- There are more than 60,000 activechiropractic licenses in the United States. All 50 states, theDistrict of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands officiallyrecognize chiropractic as a health care profession.
- In 2002, approximately 7.4 percentof the population used chiropractic care â a higher percentagethan yoga, massage, acupuncture or other diet-based therapies. (TindleHA, Davis RB, Phillips RS, Eisenberg DM. Trends in use of complementaryand alternative medicine by US adults: 1997-2002. Altern Ther HealthMed. 2005 Jan-Feb;11(1):42-9.)
- Doctors of Chiropractic undergo atleast four years of professional study at one of 16 chiropractic collegesaccredited by the Council on Chiropractic Education (CCE), an agencyrecognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education. In addition, Doctorsof Chiropractic must pass national board examinations and become state-licensedprior to practicing.
- In national surveys, patients favorchiropractic over medical care for back or neck pain. Patientsroutinely rate Doctors of Chiropractic highly in skill, manner, and explanationof treatment.
- Doctors of Chiropractic provide carein hospitals and other multidisciplinary health care facilities.
- Chiropractic is the third largestdoctoral-level health care profession after medicine and dentistry.
- Back pain is the second leading causeof all physician visits in the U.S. In fact, half of all working Americansadmit to having back pain each year. According to a study conductedby the American Chiropractic Association in 2001, 43% of patients seenby a doctor of chiropractic were treated for low-back pain.
