• Cooper JC
• Gliedt JA
• Pohlman KA

• Affiliation / Baylor Scott and White Health. Department of Chiropractic Medicine
• Affiliation / Medical College of Wisconsin. Department of Neurosurgery
• Affiliation / Parker University
• Affiliation(G) / United States / Texas / Dallas
• Affiliation(G) / United States / Texas / Round Rock
• Affiliation(G) / United States / Wisconsin / Milwaukee
• Education, Chiropractic
• Low Back Pain / diagnosis
• Open Access Document
• Pain Measurement / instrumentation
• Patient Reported Outcome Measures

Objective: To describe the clinical use of patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) and screening tools (STs) for low back pain (LBP) in clinics of chiropractic teaching institutions in the United States.

Methods: A descriptive analysis was completed with data collection achieved between June 2018 and March 2019. PROMs/STs were classified as disability/functional measures, pain measures, psychosocial measures, and other measures. Frequencies of use of PROM/ST instruments were calculated.

Results: Representatives from 18 of 19 chiropractic institutions (94.75%) provided a description of PROM/ST use for LBP in their teaching clinics. Seventeen institutions (94.4%) reported the routine clinical use of PROMs/STs for LBP. Disability/functional measures were the most common type of instruments used, followed by pain measures, psychosocial measures, and others. The 4 most common individual PROMs/STs reported were (1) Oswestry Disability Index, (2) a variation of a pain rating scale, (3) Keele STarT Back Tool, and (4) Patient Specific Functional Scale. Six out of 18 (33%) institutions reported the use of a PROM/ST specifically designed to focus on psychosocial influences.

Conclusion: Most chiropractic institution teaching clinics in the United States reported the clinical use of PROMs/STs for patients presenting with LBP. This mirrors trends in chiropractic literature of increasing use of PROMs/STs. A minority of institutions described the clinical use of a PROM/ST specifically designed to detect psychosocial influences.

Author keywords: Chiropractic, Education, Patient-Reported Outcome Measures, Low Back Pain

Author affiliations:JCC: Department of Chiropractic Medicine, Baylor Scott & White Healt, Round Rock, Texas, United States; JAG:Department of Neurosurgery, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States;KAP:Parker University, Dallas, Texas, United States
Corresponding author: JCC—jesse.cooper.dc@gmail.com

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