Yes, as a doctor of chiropractic you see the daily "proof" in your practice, and your patients feel it in their bodies.
So, what about the current research that "seems" to be reinforcing chiropractic's wellness model? Can we really claim that the research results which demonstrate chiropractic's effectiveness for cervicogenic headache is contributing to the body of literature needed to support our wellness model?
In the last issue, we celebrated the first paper published in the American Journal of Public Health primarily authored by chiropractors.1 But what that paper told us was not necessarily cause for celebration:
- Ninety-seven percent of chiropractic patients see their DC for musculoskeletal complaints.
Obviously, chiropractic has been pigeon-holed into the low back (over 68 percent of your patients) and "other musculoskeletal" categories of care. The public believes it, other health care providers refer by it, and the insurance companies pay only for that care.
How do we get out of this box?
You'll recall the AHCPR's acute low-back pain guidelines were conclusions based on solid, well-designed research, and nothing less. This quality research raised the awareness of the scientific community and gave us ammunition on the political and media fronts.
The challenge is how to move from symptom-specific studies to wellness research.
As a first step, all of our future research has to include quality of life and wellness components. It isn't that much work to add wellness questions to a survey or Oswestry form. This two-pronged approach will give a presence to the wellness model in the literature.
Think of what our studies could be telling the world: not just that chiropractic is effective for low-back pain, headache, etc., but that patients ALSO show a significant increase in their wellness/quality of life scores. This additional component echoed over the next few years will begin a dialogue within health care and probably set a trend for other health care researchers to follow.
The next step will be to conduct large-scale wellness studies over many years involving diverse patient groups. People will be very interested in how chiropractic can benefit them over the course of their life. As people age, the concern about quality of life grows. Our aging population is ready to hear our results.
If chiropractic is about the quality of our patients' health, everything we do has to reflect that focus. Wellness is primary to our approach to health. It should be reflected in every effort the chiropractic profession makes.
Let's become well-known as the champions of wellness and quality of life, before some other health care profession claims the title.
Reference
- Hurwitz EL, Coulter ID, Adams AH, Genovese BJ, Shekelle PG. Use of chiropractic services from 1985 from 1991 in the United States and Canada. Am J Public Health 1998;88:771-776.
Donald M. Petersen Jr., BS, HCD (hc), FICC(h)
Editor / Publisher of Dynamic Chiropractic
Don-MPAmedia.com
Click here for more information about Donald M. Petersen Jr., BS, HCD(hc), FICC(h), Publisher.