While it may not seem like it, the chiropractic profession in the U.S. is changing. Some changes are subtle in nature; others are not. Practice Analysis of Chiropractic 2020, produced by the National Board of Chiropractic Examiners, is the most recent effort to identify those changes.
Today's DC is definitely not the same as 30 years ago. In 1991, women made up only 13.3% of DCs. Now, women make up almost one-third (31.8%), and are the majority (53.2%) of DCs under age 30. Over that same period, the percentage of DCs with bachelor's, master's or doctoral degrees (exclusive of the DC degree) has grown from half (53.7%) to over 80%, with almost all (95.4%) DCs under age 40 having at least one.
Cash is king, with over a third (36.3%) of chiropractic cases paid with private pay or cash. Only a quarter (25.4%) are paid through insurance (non-managed care), with Medicare/Medicaid at 14.3% and managed care at 9.3%.
Twenty-eight percent of DCs provide care to our military, a huge jump from 6.7% just five years prior. Almost two-thirds (65%) of doctors focus on wellness and maintenance care. Other popular areas of focus are orthopedics / injuries (39.5%), care of athletes (39.4%), pediatrics (38.8%), rehabilitation (37.9%) and nutritional recommendations (33.3%).
Almost half of DCs (44.1%) read peer-reviewed research at least weekly; 13.7% at least daily. Consequently, almost one-third (30.6%) provide research-based treatment several times daily, and over half (51.1%) do so at least weekly.
For the first time, the analysis provides data on DCs who practice part-time (less than 20 hours a week) and those who do not currently practice. Non-practicing DCs tend to be male (63.8%) and 60 years or older (46%). Part-timers are slightly more likely to be male (52.2%) and 60 years or older (37%). Almost one-fifth of part-timers (18.9%) are homemakers; 16.7% work as faculty members.
Non-practicing doctors tend to be retired (36.7%), with 14.9% working as faculty members of chiropractic and non-chiropractic institutions. Less than one-third of those not practicing (32.2%) have actually left the profession.
Many relevant diagnostic signs are not performed deliberately by the examiner or by the patient at the examiner’s direction. They are observed as the patient reacts to their condition. Fortin’s finger sign, Minor’s sign, and Vanzetti’s sign are three examples of this principle.
Spearheaded by burgeoning scientific and clinical research literature, psychedelics have reached a level of media coverage and popular interest that has not been seen for over half a century. By “psychedelics,” we are referring to the unique class of substances that includes psilocybin (the active compound found in so-called “magic mushrooms”), LSD, dimethyltryptamine (DMT), ayahuasca, 5-MeO-DMT, and mescaline – each of which occurs in the natural world (except for LSD, which is a semi-synthetic compound).
While working at the Lovelace Medical Center in Albuquerque, N.M., one of the primary care physicians stated that imaging every patient prior to receiving chiropractic was not medically necessary. It was at that point I reconsidered the need for the imaging of every patient to avoid malpractice.
