Project title: Untangling the association between the burden of chronic back problems, current utilization of chiropractic care, and availability of chiropractors at the health region level: ecological study

Project background: The Canadian healthcare system is facing a crisis, with the demand for healthcare services exceeding the system's capacity to deliver care. Chronic back pain is a significant contributor to this crisis, and there is a need to integrate rehabilitation services into primary care settings. Chiropractors are well-positioned to provide rehabilitation services for Canadians with chronic back problems, but there is limited evidence on the geographical distribution of chiropractors and their utilization. This study aims to address this knowledge gap.

Project objectives: We propose to conduct a national ecological study at the health region level to 1) determine and spatially map the prevalence of chronic back problems (derived demand), chiropractic utilization (observed demand), and the availability of chiropractors (supply) across Canada, before and during the COVID-19 pandemic; 2) compute the chiropractic demand-supply measure; and 3) determine the factors associated with this demand-supply measure.

Supervisors: Dr. Pierre Côté, Dr. Dan Wang