ArticleChiropractic & manual therapies2018
Complaints about chiropractors, osteopaths, and physiotherapists: a retrospective cohort study of health, performance, and conduct concerns.
Article in Chiropractic & manual therapies, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 24 citations in OpenAlex.
- Design, delivery and effectiveness of health practitioner regulation systems: an integrative review.Human resources for health · 2023Pooled it
- Patient safety culture research within the chiropractic profession: a scoping review.Chiropractic & manual therapies · 2025Article
- Fluid professional boundaries: ethnographic observations of co-located chiropractors, osteopaths and physiotherapists.BMC health services research · 2024Article
- Risk identification and prediction of complaints and misconduct against health practitioners: a scoping review.International journal for quality in health care : journal of the International Society for Quality in Health Care · 2024Article
- The knowledge, attitudes and perceptions of physiotherapists and chiropractors in South Africa.The South African journal of physiotherapy · 2024Article
- Patient Experience and Satisfaction With Chiropractic Care: A Systematic Review.Journal of patient experience · 2024Article
- Adverse childhood experiences and trauma informed care for chiropractors: a call to awareness and action.Chiropractic & manual therapies · 2023Article
- Gender Issues in Physiotherapy in Quebec, Canada.Physiotherapy Canada. Physiotherapie Canada · 2023Article
- Recent research into healthcare professions regulation: a rapid evidence assessment.BMC health services research · 2021Review
- The use of internet analytics by a Canadian provincial chiropractic regulator to monitor, evaluate and remediate misleading claims regarding specific health conditions, pregnancy, and COVID-19.Chiropractic & manual therapies · 2020Article
- At-risk advertising by Australian chiropractors and physiotherapists.Chiropractic & manual therapies · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Recent media reports have highlighted the risks to patients that may occur when practitioners in the chiropractic, osteopathy and physiotherapy professions provide services in an unethical or unsafe manner. Yet research on complaints about chiropractors, osteopaths, and physiotherapists is limited. Our aim was to understand differences in the frequency and nature of formal complaints about practitioners in these professions in order to inform improvements in professional regulation and education. Methods: This retrospective cohort study analysed all formal complaints about all registered chiropractors, osteopaths, and physiotherapists in Australia lodged with health regulators between 2011 and 2016. Based on initial assessments by regulators, complaints were classified into 11 complaint issues across three domains: performance, professional conduct, and health. Differences in complaint rate were assessed using incidence rate ratios. A multivariate negative binomial regression model was used to identify predictors of complaints among practitioners in these professions. Results: Patients and their relatives were the most common source of complaints about chiropractors, osteopaths and physiotherapists. Concerns about professional conduct accounted for more than half of the complaints about practitioners in these three professions. Regulatory outcome of complaints differed by profession. Male practitioners, those who were older than 65 years, and those who practised in metropolitan areas were at higher risk of complaint. The overall rate of complaints was higher for chiropractors than osteopaths and physiotherapists (29 vs. 10 vs. 5 complaints per 1000 practice years respectively, Conclusions: Our study demonstrates differences in the frequency of complaints by source, issue and outcome across the chiropractic, osteopathic and physiotherapy professions. Independent of profession, male sex and older age were significant risk factors for complaint in these professions. Chiropractors were at higher risk of being the subject of a complaint to their practitioner board compared with osteopaths and physiotherapists. These findings may assist regulatory boards, professional associations and universities in developing programs that avert patient dissatisfaction and harm and reduce the burden of complaints on practitioners.
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Registered trials
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