Baseline Characteristics May Help Indicate the Best Choice of Health Care Provider for Back Pain Patients in Primary Care: Results From a Prospective Cohort Study Most of the investigated prognostic factors for developing persistent pain and disability were more strongly associated with outcomes in the GP setting compared with the chiropractic setting. For 5 factors (duration of pain, previous episodes, general health, recovery expectations, and musculoskeletal comorbidity), our results indicated a more pronounced potential advantage of CP in the high-risk groups compared with the low-risk groups. For the 2 remaining factors, depression and pain below the knee, we observed potentially more favorable results in the high-risk groups in the GP setting. However, based on this study, we cannot deduce whether patients with LBP benefit the most from seeking care from a chiropractor or a general practitioner.
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