Chiropractic Care: A Powerful Way to Cut Healthcare Costs
Spine-related musculoskeletal pain ranks among the top causes of disability worldwide. In the United States alone, the cost of treating spinal pain reached an estimated $134.5 billion in 2016. Treatment options are diverse, ranging from conservative therapies and medications to injections and surgery. Among these, chiropractic care stands out as one of the most commonly used approaches. Many patients actively seek chiropractic treatment to manage spine-related pain.
A recent systematic review directly compared the costs of chiropractic care with those of conventional medical care for spine-related musculoskeletal conditions. The review analyzed 44 high or acceptable quality studies.
The study revealed that patients who chose chiropractors as their initial providers required fewer opioid prescriptions, surgeries, hospitalizations, emergency department visits, specialist referrals, and injection procedures. These results underscore the value of chiropractic care as an effective first-line option for managing spine-related pain.
The review concluded that patients who initially consulted chiropractors experienced significantly reduced use of downstream healthcare services. Ultimately, leading to lower overall healthcare costs compared to those who pursued standard medical management.
While most studies in the review were retrospective cohort analyses of large databases, limiting the ability to establish causation, the consistent results across studies support the need for further research using more rigorous designs.
In summary, this systematic review points to chiropractic care to be a significant cost-saving and effective treatment option for spine-related musculoskeletal pain. As such, it deserves a prominent place in the broader spine care strategy.
References
Farabaugh, R., Hawk, C., Taylor, D., Daniels, C., Noll, C., Schneider, M., … & Whedon, J. (2024). Cost of chiropractic versus medical management of adults with spine-related musculoskeletal pain: a systematic review. Chiropractic & Manual Therapies, 32(1), 8.