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Outcome measures and their everyday use in chiropractic practice
Paul M Hinton1, Randall McLeod, Blaine Broker
1Private practice, Prince Albert, SK. Tel: 306 922-7028.
The Journal of the Canadian Chiropractic Association
|June 4, 2010
Summary
Chiropractors commonly use pain diagrams and neurological tests but rarely employ standardized disability or psychosocial instruments for patient assessment. This highlights a gap in systematically documenting patient health status and treatment response.
Area of Science:
- Chiropractic research
- Clinical assessment tools
- Patient outcomes
Background:
- Standardized outcome measures are crucial for systematically documenting patient health status and treatment responses.
- Understanding current chiropractic practices regarding outcome documentation is essential for identifying areas for improvement.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the extent to which chiropractors use standardized outcome measures and clinical assessments.
- To evaluate the documentation of baseline patient health status and treatment responses by chiropractors.
Main Methods:
- A cross-sectional mailed survey was distributed to registered chiropractors in Saskatchewan.
- Respondents reported their frequency of using various standardized instruments and clinical tests for initial assessments and ongoing treatment.
Main Results:
- A pain diagram was the most frequent subjective measure (75% used routinely).
- Most chiropractors (80%) seldom used specific disability indices (e.g., Oswestry, Neck Disability Index) or psychosocial instruments (e.g., Beck Depression Index, SF-36).
- Neurological testing (84-95%) and visual range of motion (95%) were commonly used objective measures.
Conclusions:
- Chiropractors predominantly rely on medical history, pain drawings, and basic neurological/range of motion testing.
- There is limited use of standardized psychosocial questionnaires and condition-specific disability indices in chiropractic practice.
- Current documentation practices may not fully capture comprehensive patient health status changes.
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