• Briggs L

• Chiropractic / history
• Health Care Surveys
• International Chiropractors Association
• Outcome Assessment, Health Care

Introduction: Lately there have been changes in chiropractic education and practice which warrant chronological accounting of past events of historical significance for a better understanding of the profession’s contributions. The present study compares musculoskeletal improvement outcomes for years 2010-11 to outcomes obtained from a 1949-50 survey conducted by the International Chiropractors Association (ICA). The purpose of the study is to determine if there are any significant statistical differences between recent vs. historical outcomes.

Method: Thirty patients were accepted into this study for retrospective review of their clinic records for the recent group. Records were obtained from a chiropractic college student clinic staffed by senior interns who are supervised by licensed chiropractic instructors. Percent of patient improvements were analyzed using a paired Student’s t-test (Microsoft Office Excel 2003). Final patient outcomes were obtained from the last clinic visits and were categorized using a similar format used in the ICA surveys. The term “well” in the ICA survey is replaced by the term “resolved” in the present review. The categories of improvement outcomes were 1) resolved, 2) much improved, 3) slightly improved, 4) no change/same, and 5) worse.

Results: The study results showed no significant statistical differences between the ICA survey and the chiropractic college clinic patient outcomes (p= 0.996).

Conclusion: Past vs. present quality of chiropractic care relative to musculoskeletal conditions appear to be consistent. Link to PDF version

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