In a study from Australia entitled, “A Comparison of Medical and Chiropractic Management Within the Victorian WorkCare Scheme.” This study compared the effectiveness of chiropractic and medical care for back injuries which occurred on the job. The Australia study revealed that patients receiving chiropractic care returned to work four times faster than those who sought medical care and the total cost of patient management was reduced by 75%.
Our latest study was conducted by Richard Wolfe, M.D. Dr. Wolfe utilized records from the California Department of Labor Statistics and Research. He compared the outcome of five hundred patients treated by Doctors of Chiropractic versus 500 patients treated by medical doctors. He found that patients under chiropractic care returned to work 50% faster than those treated medically, more than twice as many chiropractic patients reported no lost time from work, and only 6.7% of the chiropractic patients lost over 60 days from work versus 13.2% treated medically. Also the percentage of those reporting complete recovery was 50% greater in the chiropractic group.
FLORIDA WORKER’S COMPENSATION STUDY
This study examined 10, 652 patients with lower back injuries, some of which went to medical doctors and received standard medical care and others which saw doctors of chiropractic. Total disability was 51.3 percent shorter for chiropractic patients. The cost of chiropractic care was also 58.8 percent lower than medical care and 52.2 percent of the medical patients were hospitalized as compared to only 20.3 percent of the chiropractic patients. Simply stated, those patients that saw doctors of chiropractic for their lower back injuries were back on the job twice as fast as those that received medical care, the cost of their care was reduced by more than 50% and only one out of five patients that received chiropractic care were hospitalized as compared to more than one out of every two patients that received standard medical care.
UTAH WORKER’S COMPENSATION STUDY
From the 1986 Worker’s Compensation Fund of Utah, a study of the records of 3,062 patients with identical diagnostic codes revealed chiropractic care to be less costly than medical care.
Cost per case analysis of Utah industrial back injury claims. Chiro. vs. medical management for diagnostically equivalent conditions. 1988 study of 5,268 patient claims from the Utah Worker’s Compensation Fund. Chiropractic care was less expensive.
Journal of Occupational Medicine (August 1991); 33(8): 847-852
