A 2005 study "The Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine Among California Adults With and
Without Cancer" (1) was recently quoted in a chiropractic newsletter as evidence that chiropractors are the most commonly consulted
Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) practitioners.
The following table of data indicated that chiropractors were the most commonly consulted of the CAM practitioners and over 1
in three in the study had used a chiropractor at some stage compared with around 1 in four for massage. However the retention rate of massage (as measured
by the ratio of those who had seen a therapist in the past year compared with those who had seen a therapist at any time) is significantly higher with massage than any
of the other modalities.
CAM PROVIDER
EVER
LAST YEAR
RETENTION RATIO
Chiropractor
36.0%
13.0%
36.1%
Massage therapist
23.4%
14.2%
60.7%
Acupuncturist
10.5%
3.0%
28.6%
Osteopath
4.8%
1.1%
22.9%
Chinese Medicine
3.9%
1.5%
38.5%
Homeopath
3.8%
0.9%
23.7%
Naturopath
2.4%
1.1%
45.8%
Now there are a number of ways to intrepret this data. One could be that Osteopaths are the most successful in resolving the complaint
which the client wished to be treated for. Hence there is less need for returning visits. Alternatively I would
like to argue that over 60% of people are not going to return to massage therapy if they do not believe that it is an effective treatment modality.
(1) Goldstein MS, Brown ER, Ballard-Barbash R, Morgenstern H, Bastani R, Lee J, et al. The use of CAM among California adults with and without cancer Evid Based Complement Alternat Med 2005; 2: 557–65
