An article recently published in The New York Times tells the story of a woman (the author) who grew
up hearing that chiropractors were an “unscientific cult”—mainly from her
father, a surgeon.[1] After
hurting her tailbone in a spin class, she visits a chiropractor for the first
time in her life and ends up finding out—from a doctor, at the chiropractor’s
urging to have her bone density checked—that she has osteoporosis. While the
story the author tells about her trip to the chiropractor isn’t a particularly
flattering one (his office is full of hidden fees and her pain is not relieved
for a couple of weeks regardless of treatment), she does share some positive
findings about chiropractic care.
According to The American Chiropractic Association’s
estimate, there will be 80,000 chiropractors in the U.S. by 2020, with about
3,000 new practitioners graduating from chiropractic colleges yearly.[2]
As far back as 2007, more than 18 million Americans had been treated with
spinal manipulation, and that number has only grown in the past eight years.[3]
This rapid growth is likely a result of the fact that chiropractic has been
proven to work and people are spreading the news!
A report recently conducted by Gallup-Palmer (a chiropractic
college) sought to find out what the public thinks about chiropractic care—and
its findings were extremely positive! According to the report, 57% of adults in
the U.S. are likely to visit a chiropractor for back or neck pain, and in 2014,
33.6 million Americans sought chiropractic care.[4]
The report also found that more than half of all U.S. adults
have visited a doctor of chiropractic in the past, and “more than a quarter of
them would choose chiropractic care first for back or neck pain.”[5]
This is a very promising finding, especially in light of our country’s growing
abuse of prescription drugs and painkillers.
Though attitudes on the use and efficacy of chiropractic are
largely positive for those who were questioned in this report, one unfortunate
conclusion Gallup-Palmer came to was that there’s a general “lack of knowledge
about health insurance coverage for chiropractic care and sensitivity toward
costs may be preventing some adults in the United States from using
chiropractic services.”[6]
As most of us know, dealing with insurance companies is hardly something to
look forward to, and if people don’t know for sure what’s covered by their
policy, they may not take the time to seek out that information. As a result,
they may end up going to a physician since they know they’ll be reimbursed for
their office visit.
In truth, many insurance plans are now acknowledging the
benefits of chiropractic and are finally reimbursing patients for basic
chiropractic care. Some companies like Google and Cisco even offer chiropractic
services for their employees, which is understandably “a coveted employee
perk.”[7]
It’s important to remember, however, that even if
chiropractic care isn’t covered by your insurance company, in the long-run it
can be a much more cost effective treatment option than traditional and
“riskier…approaches to pain, such as prescription drugs and surgery.”[8]
It is great to read reports and studies like Gallup-Palmer’s and see how people
are rethinking chiropractic care, but it’s also crucial for those of us who
have benefited from chiropractic to spread the word to others. It’s our
responsibility to encourage people’s understanding that this type of treatment,
though perhaps not traditional, is beneficial, positive, and ultimately less
expensive.
Perhaps best of all for the future of chiropractic is the
fact that increasing numbers of physicians agree that chiropractic care is
beneficial. As Dr. Alan Hilibrand, a spokesman for the American Academy of
Orthopedic Surgeons, astutely stated, “At least as far as low-back pain is
involved, it poses very little risk, and there are a lot of real advantages to
it in this world of more and more
medicine, and more and more opiate addiction.”[9]
(Emphasis added.) When even insurance companies and physicians who have little
to gain from promoting chiropractic are coming to terms with the fact that it
produces real, measurable results and gets patients out of pain, it’s a great
day for chiropractors everywhere.
Gallup-Palmer’s survey will be repeated for the next two
years, and possibly after that as well. If you’re interested in the full report
or in reading more information, you can find it here: http://www.palmer.edu/gallup-report/
Working to restore
GOD’s perfect design in you!
[1] Ellison K. “Chiropractic
Care Grows, and Gains Acceptance.” The New York Times online, October 5, 2015.
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/10/05/chiropractic-care-grows-and-gains-acceptance/?_r=0
[2] Id.
[3] Id.;
American Chiropractic Association (ACA) Press Release, “New Report Finds
Majority of U.S. Adults Likely to Visit a Chiropractic Physician.”
ACAToday.org, September 8, 2015. http://www.acatoday.org/press_css.cfm?CID=5741
[4] American Chiropractic
Association (ACA) Press Release, “New Report Finds Majority of U.S. Adults
Likely to Visit a Chiropractic Physician.” ACAToday.org, September 8, 2015. http://www.acatoday.org/press_css.cfm?CID=5741
[5] Id.
[6] Id.
[7] Id.
[8] Id.
[9] Id.
