A research letter in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) provides initial findings from the most recent (2022) survey on the use of complementary health approaches (CHA).1 The findings include data from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), which conducts interviews both by phone and in-person. The CHA results have been published in 2002, 2012 and again in 2022.
Seven forms of complementary care are included in the latest study: chiropractic, acupuncture, guided imagery, massage therapy, meditation, naturopathy and yoga. Unfortunately, the results from the 2012 survey are not relevant to the use of chiropractic, as osteopathy was included in the survey question that year. The survey asks respondents about their use in the previous 12 months.
Use of any form of CHA increased from 19.2% of the U.S. population in 2002 to well over a third (36.7 %) of the population in 2022 (approximately 122.3 million adults). Use of chiropractic specifically in the previous 12 months increased from 7.5% of adults in 2002 to 11% in 2022 (an increase of almost 47%).* That equates to almost 37 million adult patients.
Use of any form of CHA for pain management also increased, from 42.3% in 2002 to just under half the population (49.2%) in 2022. For chiropractic patients, use of chiropractic for pain management increased from approximately 78% in 2002 to 85.7% in 2022.*
With the use of any form of CHA almost doubling (91% increase) during the 20-year period and the use of chiropractic care increasing by almost 50%, it is clear that the public’s health care preferences are shifting to less invasive forms of care that are not drug-dependent. This is especially true for pain relief. Based on these findings, the chiropractic profession will want to expand its effort to educate more consumers about the benefits of consistent chiropractic care.
*This research letter is an early report of the results of the NHIS CHA survey. It does not include exact figures for the use of chiropractic in 2022 and the use of chiropractic for pain in 2002. The information provided is taken from graphs presented in figures 1 and 2 of the report.
Reference
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