A prospective study of 2,000 patients attending a chiropractic college teaching clinic.

A prospective study was undertaken to characterize 2,000 patients attending a chiropractic teaching clinic and the effectiveness of the care they received. Fifty-two percent of the patients were between 21 and 34 years old; 41% categorized their occupation as professional and 14% as skilled blue collar; 79% presented with musculoskeletal complaints; 44% had low back pain; 41% had complaints less than 1 month; 83% had no work time loss. Eighty-one percent of musculoskeletal diagnoses were reported as strain, with less than 1% intervertebral disc syndrome. The primary treatment approach was manipulation in 90% of cases. As a group, both patients and interns had similar expectations about the likelihood of improvement following treatment and similar assessments of the degree of improvement actually attained. Eighty-two percent of patients improved during their course of treatment. An average 4.4 patient visits were encountered per episode of care, with an average total charge of $66.00.