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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Chiropractic care for patients aged 55 years and older
— report from a practice-based research program | | Author(s) | Cheryl Hawk, Cynthia R Long, Karen T Boulanger |
| Journal title | Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, vol 48, no 5, May 2000 |
| Pages | pp 534-545 |
| Keywords | Alternative medicine ; Pain ; Musculoskeletal diseases ; United States of America ; Canada. |
| Annotation | 805 patients (60.1% women, 94.7% white) attending 96 chiropractors in 32 US states and two Canadian provinces participated in a 12-week study which used the Medical Outcomes Study 12-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-12) and the Pain Disability Index (PDI). Overweight patients comprised 38.6% and obese 20.6% of the total; 50.2% reported regular exercise. Chief complaints were predominantly pain-related (72.3%), most commonly back pain (32.9%). 40.6% of study patients reported using at least one pain medication more than 3 times per week. More than half of complaints (54.9%) had onsets more than 6 weeks before the baseline visit. For 66.6% of subjects, a chiropractor was the only provider for their current complaint. In addition to manipulation, most common features of care were recommendations on exercise (41%), heat or cold applications (40.8%) and food supplements (24.5%). At 4 weeks, 19.8% were discharged, 58.8% continued treatment, and 20.1 had discontinued care. Those with higher PDI mean baseline scores showed more change at 4 weeks. For those discharged by a doctor, the proportion of reported pain medication use decreased 7.3% at 4 weeks, increased for those who discontinued care, and remained about the same for those continuing care. Further investigation of the PDI and decrease in pain medication use as outcome measures seems warranted. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-000824217 A |
| Classmark | LK3: CT7: CL: 7T: 7S |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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