The purposes of this descriptive/exploratory study are to describe the pain characteristics and pain management strategies of adults with acute and chronic pain seeking chiropractic treatment and to examine the reasons they seek chiropractic care. Chiropractic care is one of the most popular complementary and alternative therapies chosen by pain patients to manage their pain. However, there is little information about the experience of pain patients who seek chiropractic care, how they managed their pain before they sought chiropractic care, and why they seek this care.
A convenience sample of 98 pain patients was recruited from two chiropractic offices for this cross-sectional study. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected on their pain characteristics, pain management strategies, and the reasons for seeking chiropractic care.
The majority were women, highly educated, and middle to upper middle socioecomomic status. They complained of mild pain (3.3 on 0-10 numerical rating scale) mostly of the neck, shoulder, and back. The majority of the patients saw a chiropractor without seeing a mainstream health care provider and had referrals from non-health care providers such as family and friends. Patients generally were not satisfied with the services of primary care physicians and nurse practitioners compared with the services of other health care providers. They used an average of four pain relieving methods in the past including alternative medicine and self-care. Over 60% of patients used massage, heat, and medications other than narcotics. Only 14% had used narcotics to treat pain in the past. Seventeen reasons for seeking chiropractic care emerged from the patients' responses to an open-ended question. The efficacy of chiropractic care was an important factor in the decision to seek chiropractic care. Acute pain patients did not differ from chronic pain patients in their reports of pain intensity, controllability, and interference. However, chronic pain patients used more pain management methods than acute pain patients. Acute and chronic pain patients differed to some extent in their reasons for seeking chiropractic care. Dissatisfaction with traditional medicine reason emerged from chronic pain patients only. The findings contributed to improving health care providers' understanding of the pain characteristics and pain management strategies of pain patients seeking chiropractic care and their reasons for seeking this type of care.
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