Full Title: Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Back Pain Utilization
Expected Release Date: late 2008
Key Questions
What complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies are being used for treatment of persons with back pain (BP) in the United States?
- What is the relative utilization for the different CAM therapies?
- Does the utilization differ by where the BP is anatomically located (i.e., neck, mid-back, low back)?
- Which therapies are used as complementary to conventional care and which are used as alternative?
- When more than one therapy is used for back pain, how are these combined?
- What is the utilization that is recommended by different types of healthcare providers?
- How do these recommendations compare to the actual utilization reported in studies from question 1?
- How do the recommended and actual utilization reported differ by CAM practitioner type?
- What are usual costs for these therapies per treatment and for the prescribed course of treatments?
- How much of this cost is covered by insurance or included in HMO health plans?
Current as of June 2008
Internet Citation:
Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Back Pain Utilization, Clinical Focus. June 2008. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic/tp/backcamtp.htm