Your Best Referral Source (It's Not Who You Think)
Dynamic Chiropractic Staff
| DIGITAL EXCLUSIVE
An exciting study just published (online first) in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine reveals the probability that U.S. medical physicians "recommend complementary health approaches (CHAs) to their patients." The authors used "physician-level data" from the "2012 Physician Induction Interview of the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS PII), a nationally representative survey of office-based physicians."
While the most commonly recommended complementary health approach is massage therapy, the second most commonly recommended approach is "chiropractic/osteopathic manipulation." According to the study, 27.1 percent of MDs recommend manipulation to their patients.*
If you're tempted to discount these study findings because they include osteopathic manipulation, consider the following:
Chiropractic is named first in the survey choice: "chiropractic / osteo-pathic manipulation."
All chiropractors adjust / manipulate, but previous research (Acad Med, 2001) suggests that osteopathic physicians use manipulative therapy on less than 5 percent of their patients.
Research also has already established that chiropractors account for approximately 90 percent of the manipulation performed in the U.S. (Integrative Med, 1998).
But wait... there's more: The authors further examined their findings by medical specialty. They found that "chiropractic/osteopathic manipulation" is the most commonly recommended approach by general/family practice physicians at 54.0 percent. Imagine that: More than half of all GP/FPs recommend manipulation to their patients!
*The results of this study also tell us which medical specialties are less likely to recommend "chiropractic/osteopathic manipulation." It seems that psychiatrists, OB/GYNs and pediatricians may take more work on your part to generate a referral relationship.
A historic meeting between chiropractic and Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) leadership took place on March 10th, 2026, in Washington, D.C., featuring representatives from chiropractic national organizations, professional associations and policy principals. The collective goal: advancing the role of chiropractic in improving the health of Americans. Meeting participants focused on long-standing issues that have affected the chiropractic profession for decades, including access to care, reimbursement parity, and ensuring DCs have an appropriate role in national health policy discussions.
Radicular-like pain of the upper and lower extremities is among the most common presentations in musculoskeletal and spine-related practice. Traditionally, these symptoms are interpreted through a disc-centric and dermatomal framework, often leading clinicians to attribute limb pain, paresthesia or perceived weakness to spinal nerve-root pathology. While this approach is appropriate in cases of true radiculopathy, it frequently falls short when symptoms fail to follow consistent dermatomal patterns or correlate poorly with imaging findings.
A 46-year-old male presented to our clinic with a seven-year history of recurrent low back pain with sciatica. He reported stiffness and discomfort that worsened with prolonged sitting both at his desk job and during evening television time. The patient had seen multiple chiropractors over the years. In every case, spinal manipulation and other passive treatments would bring gradual symptom relief over 2-3 months. However, within another 3-6 months, the symptoms would return. Frustrated – and now considering a spinal injection and possibly surgery if that failed, he came to our office seeking a different approach.
