Today’s issue of WorkCompRecap features the release of a new study from WCRI that examined chiropractic care for low back pain and found substantial variation in the use of the modality across 28 states, and also offers insights into patterns and outcomes of chiropractic care.
Key findings included the aforementioned variation among states, with states that give employers control of selecting medical providers having among the lowest prevalence of chiropractic care. Based on 16 states that did have prevalent chiropractic care, 12% of workers with low back pain received physical medicine care exclusively from chiropractors, and 17% received physical medicine treatment from chiropractors and other non-chiropractic providers, concurrently or sequentially. The study also provides some evidence as to how different provider patterns of physical medicine treatment are associated with variations in overall medical and indemnity costs, and the duration of temporary disability, and looks at the utilization of medical services, including magnetic imaging studies, opioid prescriptions, and pain management injections.