Most commonly used methods of detecting spinal subluxation and the preferred term for its description: a survey of chiropractors in Victoria, Australia.

PURPOSE

To determine the most commonly used diagnostic methods for detecting the spinal entity that chiropractors adjust/manipulate and the preferred term for describing this entity.

DESIGN

Postal survey (self-completed questionnaire).

SETTING

Victoria, Australia.

PARTICIPANTS

All 554 chiropractors registered May 30, 1994, with the Chiropractors and Osteopaths Registration Board of Victoria.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Frequency of use and opinion with respect to reliability of 16 specific methods, measured on a 7-point, Likert-type scale [never used (1) to always used (7) and very unreliable (1) to very reliable (7), respectively]; the respondent's preferred term for describing the spinal entity that chiropractors adjust/manipulate.

RESULTS

The response rate was 85%. The most commonly used method was static palpation (mean score 6.6 +/- 1.1). Seven other methods, including pain description of the patient, orthopedic tests, motion palpation, visual posture analysis, leg length discrepancy, neurological tests and plain static X-rays had mean scores greater than 4.0. All of these methods, as well as functional X-ray views and kinesiological muscle testing, were considered reliable, with mean reliability scores greater than 4.0. Motion palpation was regarded as the most reliable method (mean reliability score 5.9 +/- 1.2). Seventy-five different terms for describing the spinal entity were named by 440 respondents. "Subluxation" was included in the preferred term of 294 respondents (67%), 46 included "dysfunction" (11%), 35 included "fixation" (8%) and 20 included "manipulable" (4.5%).

CONCLUSION

Chiropractors commonly use a variety of methods to identify the spinal entity that they manipulate. There is no consensus as to the preferred term for describing this entity.