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What do Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bob Hope, Cher, Tiger Woods, Van Halen and Whitney Houston all have in common? While they’re all celebrities in their own right, each of these has at one time been patients of chiropractic care. With evidence supporting the effectiveness of chiropractic care, the number of patients obtaining care has grown tremendously. In fact, an estimated 30 million people visited doctors of chiropractic (“DC’s”) last year. History has shown that as the demand for chiropractic care increases, the supply side (the number of "DC's") will grow as well. In 1970, approximately 13,000 doctors of chiropractic were licensed and 20 years later (1990) that number jumped to 40,000. Studies estimate that DC’s will double by the year 2010 to over 100,000. But just what sort of care is typically provided?

With approximately 80% of the population experiencing some sort of back pain, is it any wonder that the most common chiropractic care provided is related to the spine? In fact, at any given time some 31 million Americans experience back pain. Ouch! Even though chiropractic care typically involves diagnosing and treating neuromuscular disorders such as headaches, joint-neck-back pains…their scope extends far beyond neuromuscular disorders. As new research continues to unfold, chiropractors will also treat a variety of non-neuromuscular conditions like allergies, asthma and some digestive disorders. With roots tracing back to Ancient China and Greece (2700 B.C. and 1500 B.C), doctors of chiropractic have become pioneers in the field of non-invasive care.

So what’s in the future for chiropractic care? Wider acceptance of chiropractic, increased chiropractic research and greater health consciousness all assure chiropractic a future of expanding service

- Frank Salazar

Source : Stockdale Chiropractic - http://www.stockdalechiropractic.com/celebrities.htm

Source : History of Chiropractic Care - http://www.amerchiro.org/media/whatis/history_chiro.shtml

Source : Chiropractic: A Rapidly Growing Profession - http://www.acatoday.com/media/growing_profession.shtml

Source : Future of Chiropractic - http://www.amerchiro.org/media/whatis/careers/future_chiro.shtml

Industry Snapshot: Chiropractic Care

Take a look at our full industry report on Chiropractic Care (PDF Format). If you are interested in other industry snapshots, visit our SBDC Business Advisors' Toolkit.

Links of Interest

http://www.amerchiro.org/ - American Chiropractic Association, world's largest chiropractic professional association
http://www.chiropractic.org/ - International Chiropractors Association, based in Virginia yet with a world viewpoint
http://www.chiromed.org/ - National Association for Chiropractic Medicine for practicing doctors
http://www.thehealthpages.com/articles/ar-chiro.html - Health Pages for the consumer
http://www.chiroeco.com/ - Chiropractic Economics for those in the practice

Did You Know?

According to our most recent statistics, the SBDCNet researchers save SBDC Business Advisors an average of 5 hours per client? In some cases it may be fewer hours and in others it can be a dramatic time savings, reaching up to 40 hours depending on the research resources conveniently available to the business advisor. In a solo operation, the value of completed research rises as the business advisor can still travel or maintain the “face time” appointments with his/her clients. Submit your research requests to http://sbdcnet.org/http://sbdcnet.utsa.edu/requestform.asp.

Are You Paying Attention to
Demographic Trends?

February is Black History Month.

During 2005, the following areas within the United States boasted of the strongest African-American population as follows:
61.3% District of Columbia
36.2% Mississippi
32.5% Louisiana
29.3% South Carolina
28.3% Georgia

Though Hurricane Katrina may have altered these figures a bit, Experian & Applied Geographic Solutions have not yet been able to assess either the direct or indirect effect of that change. Nonetheless, studies are in progress pertaining to the hurricane’s effect on the Gulf Coast region small business community. (See link below).
Projected changes in the African-American population for the years 2005-2010 are as follows:
16.1% Nevada
12.1% Arizona
9.3% Florida
8.7% Texas
8.6% Georgia
8.1% Colorado
8.0% Idaho

Only two areas of the United States are projected to experience a decrease in their African American population during this same timeframe. They are:
2.3% District of Columbia
1.9% North Dakota

Sources:
http://www.extendthereach.com/company/infotech. srct
http://www.continuitycentral.com/news02195.htm

- J. Eric Lomeli

Contact Us

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