Americans are spending billions out-of-pocket for chiropractic services and other complementary health approaches according to authors of a new report by NIH’s National Center for Complementary and Integrative health (NCCIH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

“Substantial numbers of Americans spent billions of dollars out-of-pocket on these approaches, an indication that users believe enough in the value of these approaches to pay for them,” noted Richard l. Nahin, PhD, NCCIH’s lead epidemiologist and lead author of the expenditures analysis, which was conducted with data collected from a special supplement to the 2012 National health Interview Survey.

According to the 2012 survey, Americans spent 14.7 billion out-of-pocket on visits to complementary practitioners such as doctors of chiropractic, acupuncturists or massage therapists. They also spent about $12.8 billion on natural products supplements (a quarter of what they spent out-of-pocket on prescription drugs).

With respect to chiropractic, NCCIH/CDC findings show that 8.4 percent of U.S. adults (about 19.4 million) used chiropractic or osteopathic services for spinal manipulation in 2012, which was consistent with 2007 data. There was an increase in chiropractic/osteopathic services for children, however, with about 3.3 percent of American children (or 1.9 million) receiving treatment in 2012—compared with 2.8 percent of children in 2007, and chiropractic was the most frequently used of the complementary services for children.

Presented as a service to the community by: Union County Chiropractic Clinic, 110 Skyline Drive, Maynardville, TN (865) 992-7000 www.unioncountychiropractic.com.