A survey of low back pain patients in chiropractic practices in South Wales

The objective of the present study was to establish a profile of the population of low back pain (LBP) patients visiting chiropractors in the South Wales area of the UK, and compare this with existing data on LBP from international, national and regional sources. This retrospective survey of 1000 patient record files from 10 different chiropractic patient lists took place in individual chiropractic clinics established in South Wales. The record files of the most recent, consecutive 100 LBP patients from each of 10 separate chiropractic patient lists was collected retrospectively from seven chiropractors practising in six separate chiropractic clinics. The data recorded for each patient included age, sex, chronicity of LBP at presentation (acute pain 12 weeks), whether there was any involvement of leg pain and any past history of LBP. The average age of patients consulting chiropractors in the present survey was found to be 45.6 years, while the average age range between practices was 14.5-83.2 years. The male:female ratio was 53.5:46.5. Out of the 1000 patients, 487 (48.7%) were acute, 140 (14%) subacute and 338 (33.8%) chronic. No record of duration of complaint was found in the files of 35 (3.5%) patients. The presence of leg pain was reported by 342 (34.2%) patients and a past history of LBP by 522 (52.2%). It was concluded that the South Wales chiropractic LBP population demonstrated a similar profile to other surveyed populations.