January 2003
Eight bases add chiropractic services to
medical facilities
Will require referral from M.D.
The news that eight Air Force medical treatment facilities
added chiropractic to their list of services generated mixed reactions
from the chiropractic community. Considering the restrictions imposed on
chiropractors, getting into the military bases was, at best, a Pyrrhic
victory.
The introduction of chiropractic into the Air Force was the
result of the Department of Defense demonstration project, which spurred
Congress to include chiropractic as a permanent benefit for active duty
military members.
The Air Force plans to extend the chiropractic benefits to
other bases.
"Over the next five years we will gradually increase the
availability of chiropractic services across the Air Force," said Lt.
Col. (Dr.) Robert Manaker. "A similar thing is happening across the
Army and the Navy. This is a tri-service program."
Air Force press releases and articles continue to refer to
chiropractic as "chiropractic medicine," and an article by Staff
Sgt. C. Todd Lopez in the Air Force Print News contained a quote
from Col. Manaker that shows clearly that Air Force officials have not
been educated about subluxations or the role of chiropractic.
"Chiropractic helps by essentially realigning joints to
their normal alignment," Manaker said. "A misalignment in your
spine can cause the muscles around it to begin to have pain, to spasm or
to cramp up. What chiropractors find is that if you realign those
vertebrae, that can help decrease your pain."
In addition, the military has limited chiropractic to the
treatment of neuro-musculoskeletal conditions and established a medical
gatekeeper.
According to military regulations, "Active duty service
members may be treated by a chiropractic provider for neuro-musculoskeletal
conditions if referred by their primary care manager at one of the
designated military treatment facilities. During the course of treatment,
the primary care manager will determine if specialty care (traditional or
chiropractic care) is required. If chiropractic care is considered an
option, the patient will undergo a screening process to rule out any
medical conditions that would prohibit chiropractic care. If appropriate,
the primary care manager may refer the patient to a chiropractic provider
for treatment."
Manaker added, "To see the chiropractor, you need to get
a referral. As a primary‑care provider, if I have sent you to an
orthopedist and he thinks you could benefit from a chiropractor, he could
also make the referral."
Military members who would like to see a chiropractor can be
referred to any one of the DOD facilities that currently employ a
chiropractor. For now, however, they will not be able to seek treatment
from off-base private-practice chiropractors.
"The World Chiropractic Alliance is vehemently opposed
to these regulations," stated WCA President Terry A. Rondberg.
"It's hard to believe that the DOD Chiropractic Advisory Committee
could not have done a better job educating the military leaders about the
role of subluxation correction. More likely, they didn't really try."
Dr. Rondberg noted that the Committee was made up primarily
of members of the American Chiropractic Association and developers or
proponents of the Mercy Guidelines.
"This is precisely why the WCA and the International
Chiropractors Association opposed the ACA's proposal to put these same
people on the V.A. Chiropractic Advisory Committee," he stated.
"The last thing we want is to have chiropractors limited only to
treating neuro-musculoskeletal disorders and being rationed out by medical
doctors."
The World Chiropractic Alliance, along with the
ICA
and Federation of
Straight Chiropractors and Organizations, will continue to work to ensure
that all people, including members of the military and federal employees,
have the right to seek chiropractic care for subluxation correction.
"We spent time with the members of Congress, explaining
about the effect of subluxation on the human body, and were able to get a
specific reference to vertebral subluxation complex in the V.A. bill that
passed last year," Rondberg explained.
"Despite years of ACA lobbying, few of them knew what a
subluxation was! Once they understood the true purpose of chiropractic,
they were very supportive."
