Abstract
Low back pain (LBP) is a pandemic and costly musculoskeletal condition in the United States (U.S.). Patients with LBP may endure surgery, injections, and expensive visits to emergency departments. Some suggest that using physical therapy (PT) or chiropractic in the earlier stage of LBP reduces the utilization of expensive health services and lowers the treatment costs. Given that there are costs and benefits with each of these treatments, the remaining question is in a short period of time which of these treatments is optimal. The purpose of this study was to investigate the cost-effectiveness of chiropractic versus PT in the U.S. A decision tree analytic model was used for estimating the economic outcomes. The findings showed that the total average cost in the chiropractic group was $48.56 lower than the PT group. The findings also showed that the daily adjusted life years (DALY) in the chiropractic group was 0.0043 higher than the PT group. Chiropractic care was shown to be a cost-effective alternative compared with PT for adults with at least three weeks of LBP over six months.
Highlights
Low back pain (LBP) is a chief cause of years lost to disability in the world [1]
The sensitivity for shown this study showed that the incremental cost‐effectiveness was LBP, when compared to other non-pharmacologic treatments
Chiropractic care and physical therapy (PT) are shown to be the superior non‐pharmacologic strategies for treating training has not instilled them with the requisite skills and confidence to successfully address and treat
Summary
Low back pain (LBP) is a chief cause of years lost to disability in the world [1]. It is an encumbrance to patients and a burden to societies. LBP causes a high cost of medical expenses and loss-of-work [2,3,4]. While LBP commonly resolves within 8 to 12 weeks, it can persist beyond 3 months in 15% of patients, where it becomes a chronic pain [5,7]. It is essential to identify and promote early interventions for acute LBP that are cost-effective [8,9]. Such interventions are necessary as the burden of chronic back pain may lead to a lower productivity, lower quality of life, and higher financial liability for society [10]
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