From 2002 to 2022, US adults not only increased their overall use of complementary health approaches but also were more likely to use complementary health approaches specifically for managing pain. The findings come from a recent analysis by the US National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health.

The analysis used data collected from the 2002, 2012, and 2022 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) to evaluate changes in the use of seven complementary health approaches: yoga, meditation, massage therapy, chiropractic care, acupuncture, naturopathy, and guided imagery/progressive muscle relaxation.

Among the findings:

• In 2002, 19.2% of respondents used at least one of the seven approaches, whereas in 2022, 36.7% did.
• Use of yoga, meditation, and massage therapy increased most, from 2002 to 2022.
• Use of yoga increased from 5% in 2002 to 9% in 2012 to 15.8% in 2022.
• Meditation increased from 7.5% in 2002 to 17.3% in 2022, and it was the most used approach in 2022.
• Use of acupuncture, which was increasingly covered by insurance, doubled, from 1% in 2002 to 2.2% in 2022.

The analysis also showed a significant increase over the 20 years in the proportion of US adults using complementary health approaches specifically for pain management. The percentage using yoga for pain increased from 11.4% in 2002 to 28.8%  in 2022. The complementary health approach with the highest use for pain management was chiropractic (85.7% in 2022).

According to the study authors, the shift toward using complementary health approaches, especially for pain, may have been propelled by the need to switch from using potentially harmful opioids to using non-opioid treatments and the incorporation of some complementary health approaches in clinical practice guidelines for pain.

To read the abstract of the research letter, published in JAMA, click here