Seniors and Chiropractic

The general population is going to chiropractors in record numbers.  Seniors, the fastest segment of the population is no exception.  According to a recent August 24^th 1999 article in USA Today, more than 80% of seniors age 65 or greater are aware of what the article termed alternative medicine.  This awareness has lead to a fairly fast growing utilization of these services.  The breakdown for usage of chiropractic and other non-medical health care is as follows:

Chiropractic lead the way with a utilization of 32%, second was massage therapy at 16%, followed by acupuncture 9%, homeopathy at 4%, naturopathy 3% and Chinese medicine 3%. 

A recent study published in Topics in Clinical Chiropractic of a randomized clinical trial showed data that found chiropractic geriatric patients were "less likely to have been hospitalized, less likely to have used a nursing home, more likely to report a better health status, more likely to exercise vigorously, and more likely to be mobile in the community."