The Top 10 Reasons People See A Chiropractor

According to the National Institutes of Health's National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), about 11% of U.S. adults have seen a chiropractor— up from 7.4% back in 2002. Chiropractic is a growing part of how people manage their health.

Here's a rundown of the most common reasons people head to a chiropractor.

1. Low Back Pain

This is the big one. A large review pulling together decades of research from chiropractic clinics around the world found that, on average, roughly half of all chiropractic patients are there for low back pain. It's easy to see why — nearly everyone deals with a stiff, achy, or "thrown out" back at some point, and it's one of the most common reasons people seek any kind of medical care, not just chiropractic. Chiropractors typically approach it by working on spinal joint mobility and the surrounding muscles, with the goal of easing pain and helping people move more freely.

2. Neck Pain

Neck pain is the clear runner-up, showing up in about 20% of chiropractic visits in that same body of research. Between hours hunched over laptops and phones, poor sleep positions, and old injuries, it's not hard to see why necks take a beating. Chiropractic care for neck pain usually focuses on restoring motion in the cervical spine and loosening up the muscles that tend to tighten around it.

3. Headaches

The NIH's own chiropractic fact sheet specifically calls out headaches as one of the common, recognized reasons people seek this kind of care, right alongside back and neck pain. Many headaches — especially the kind that seem to originate from neck tension — are the type chiropractors most often treat.

For more info on chiropractic and headaches see this post: https://www.ewellsdc.com/post/headaches-common-types-triggers-and-treatments

4. Sciatica and Disc-Related Pain

Sciatica is that sharp, radiating pain that shoots down the leg, sometimes caused by a bulging or herniated disc pressing on a nerve. It's technically a subset of low back pain, but it's distinctive enough — and uncomfortable enough — that it deserves its own mention. People often seek out chiropractic care here specifically because it's non-invasive and doesn't involve surgery or long-term medication, which is appealing for a condition that can otherwise feel like it only has "big" solutions.

For more info on chiropractic and sciatica see this post:

http://ewellsdc.com/post/sciatica-101

5. Joint and Extremity Pain

Not everything is about the spine. A meaningful slice of chiropractic visits — roughly one in ten, per that same global research review — are for pain in the shoulders, knees, hips, hands, or feet. Chiropractors often treat these joints directly, not just the spine, using mobilization techniques suited to each area.

6. Whiplash and Car Accident Injuries

If you've ever been in even a minor fender-bender, you know how a "little" jolt to the neck can turn into weeks of stiffness and discomfort. This kind of injury — often called whiplash — sends a notable number of people to chiropractors every year. Research suggests a substantial share of people with ongoing neck pain trace it back to a car accident, and unfortunately, a good portion of these injuries don't fully resolve on their own within a few months, which is often what prompts people to seek treatment in the first place.

7. TMJD (Jaw Pain and Dysfunction)

TMJD — problems with the jaw joint that can cause clicking, pain, or trouble opening your mouth fully — isn't the first thing people associate with chiropractic care, but it's a recognized reason people seek it out. The NIH specifically lists temporomandibular disorders among the conditions studied in chiropractic research. The logic here is that the jaw joint is closely connected to the muscles and joints of the upper neck, so working on that area can sometimes ease jaw symptoms too.

8. Sports Injuries

Strains, sprains, and the general wear-and-tear of being active bring a fair number of people through chiropractic doors, from kids to adults, and from amateurs to pros. This often overlaps with the joint pain category above, since a lot of sports injuries involve a specific joint rather than the spine.

9. General Wellness, Maintenance and Prevention

Not everyone comes in with a specific complaint. One study of chiropractic patients found that more than 30% of visits were, at least in part, about staying healthy or heading off future problems rather than fixing something that already hurt. Worth noting: that particular study looked at a fairly narrow slice of chiropractic practices, so it may not perfectly represent everyone — but the broader idea that some patients use chiropractic as an ongoing wellness habit, rather than a one-time fix, does seem to hold up.

For more about chiropractic and maintenance care see this post: https://www.ewellsdc.com/post/maintenance-chiropractic-care-is-it-for-you

10. Kids and Musculoskeletal Issues

Chiropractic care isn't just for adults. NIH data shows that about 3.4% of U.S. children used chiropractic care in a recent survey year. Parents bring kids in for a range of reasons: general back or neck discomfort, posture concerns, sports-related bumps and strains, or issues related to spinal curvature. Some also bring infants in for fussiness or feeding difficulties, though that particular use is less studied and more debated than the musculoskeletal reasons above. Research looking specifically at why kids see chiropractors found that back-related complaints were the single biggest category, followed by concerns about spinal curvature and neck or head issues.

----

References

• National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. Spinal Manipulation: What You Need To Know. NIH; 2022. https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/spinal-manipulation-what-you-need-to-know — source for overall adult utilization (11.0% in 2022 vs. 7.4% in 2002) and child utilization (3.4% in 2017).

• National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. Chiropractic: In Depth. NIH. https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/chiropractic-in-depth — source for the 85.7% pain-management figure and NIH's explicit listing of headache and other conditions as common reasons for care.

• Beliveau PJ, Wong JJ, Sutton DA, et al. The chiropractic profession: a scoping review of utilization rates, reasons for seeking care, chiropractic education, and research agenda. Chiropractic & Manual Therapies. 2017;25:35. PMID: 29201346 — source for low back pain (~49.7%), neck pain (~22.5%), and extremity/joint pain (~10.0%) as shares of chiropractic visits, based on a synthesis of studies conducted over roughly four decades across multiple countries.

• Peng T, Chen B, Gabriel KP. Utilization of Chiropractic Care in US Children and Adolescents: A Cross-Sectional Study of the 2012 National Health Interview Survey. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics. 2018;41(9):725-733. PMID: 30791994 — source for the finding that back-related complaints were the leading reason for pediatric chiropractic visits, followed by spinal curvature and neck/head concerns.

• Mirtz TA, Kettner NW, Loni A. The uncertain role of chiropractic in wellness care: a review of the literature. Journal of the Canadian Chiropractic Association. 2008. — source for the finding that more than 40% of visits in the sample studied were motivated at least in part by wellness or prevention. Note: this study sampled a specific subset of chiropractic practices, not the general chiropractic patient population.

• American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (AAPM&R). PM&R KnowledgeNow: Whiplash-Associated Disorder. https://now.aapmr.org/ — source for background on motor vehicle collisions as a common origin of chronic neck pain, and the tendency of a substantial portion of whiplash cases to become chronic. Note: the specific study underlying this page's figures was not independently verifiable, so exact percentages were intentionally left out of the article.