Congress Passes Pro-Chiropractic Legislation In the final days of the first session of the 109th Congress, the House of Representatives and the Senate passed legislation containing language favorable to doctors of chiropractic, and their patients. The Defense Department reauthorization bill calls on the Department of Defense to develop a plan to make the chiropractic benefit available to active military members and requests that the Pentagon study the cost and feasibility of expanding the chiropractic benefit to military dependents, retirees, and reservists. “Without any basis in law, the Pentagon has made the chiropractic health care benefit available at only 42 of the 238 military treatment facilities worldwide,” says Richard G. Brassard, DC, American Chiropractic Association president. “None of our military bases overseas—including those in Iraq and Afghanistan—have a doctor of chiropractic available to provide service members with the care they desperately need. The Department of Defense is not taking the congressional mandate seriously and is effectively violating existing law.” Among the items passed in the Department of Health and Human Services funding bill is language directing $2 million to chiropractic colleges and universities for continued research on the effectiveness of chiropractic treatment for spinal and low back conditions. Attached to the same bill is language pertaining to the US Public Health Service (PHS) Commissioned Corps and the struggle DCs have experienced in their efforts to join the corps of PHS officers. The committee report specifically notes that the Surgeon General, under the current law, has the authority to appoint DCs as commissioned officers; however, to date, none have been bestowed the honor. The Senate Appropriations Committee Report encourages the Surgeon General to develop a plan to commission DCs in the US PHS Commissioned Corps. The language also directs the Surgeon General to update the committee on his progress within 6 months following the bill’s passage.

ACC Curriculum to Address Vertebral Artery Issues
The Association of Chiropractic Colleges (ACC) has developed a 2-hour continuing-education curriculum to address the subject of cervical spine adjusting and vertebral artery issues. The curriculum includes information on cerebrovascular accident (CVA), or stroke, from the rate of incidence to the management of an adverse response to a cervical adjustment.

Gerard W. Clum, DC, ACC past president and current board member, as well as president of Life Chiropractic College West, says the ACC developed the curriculum to encourage consistency and thoroughness regarding how chiropractic colleges instruct students and practicing chiropractors in this area. He says the ACC will aggressively distribute information throughout the country in the form of lectures, online initiatives, and the creation of DVDs and CDs.

"There are opportunities for practitioners to be more alert to patient presentations that signal a dissection in progress, and there are opportunities for simple, straight-forward clinical management and interventions that may minimize these problems greatly," Clum says.

DCs Form Emergency Response Team
Doctors of chiropractic have come together to establish a Chiropractic Emergency Response Team (CERT) as part of the US Department of Homeland Security’s Emergency Medical Services organization in time of national emergencies. In January 2006, Rick Wren, DC, was named its national director.

CERT began after chiropractors assisted victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. One example was a group of more than 60 DCs who staged a volunteer chiropractic rehabilitation unit with the medical command center at the Dallas Convention Center in October 2005.

“There has been a tremendous need in the chiropractic community to have an organized chiropractic emergency response team,” Wren says. “We showed during the Katrina and Rita tragedies how chiropractic can help.”

Wren is currently assembling a working staff and management team to oversee the creation and development of a nationally recognized CERT. CERT will provide volunteer chiropractors, supplies, communications, and technical infrastructure in times of emergency. For information, go to www.ihelpcert.org.

Diabetics Use Alternative Therapy
A survey of 2,474 adult diabetics, conducted by Donald Garrow, MD, and Leonard E. Egede, MD, from the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, SC, found that 48% of respondents used complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) such as chiropractic care, acupuncture, and massage.

"This is a great example of demonstrating the variety of patients being seen by chiropractors,” says Kim D. Christensen, CCSP, DACRB, Longview, Wash. “Patients with asthma and various other medical conditions also are seen by chiropractors ... most being treated for appropriate chiropractic subluxation issues, including wellness.”

To Egede’s and Garrow’s surprise, CAM use was independently associated with an increased likelihood of getting a pneumonia vaccination and of visiting an emergency department or a primary care physician. This suggests that CAM use in adults with diabetes may not be a barrier to the use of preventive care services or the use of conventional medical services.

“It appears that those who use alternative therapies want more autonomy in making health care decisions and are willing to try alternative therapies as an adjunct to conventional medicines,” Egede says.

Researchers note that CAM users in the study were typically younger, employed, and had higher incomes that non-CAM users and therefore were more likely to afford alternative therapies in addition to conventional medical treatments.

Yoga Relieves Chronic Back Pain
A study conducted at the Group Health Cooperative (a consumer-governed, nonprofit health care system) in Seattle has found that patients plagued by chronic low back pain may find some relief in yoga class. The study, published in the December 2005 issue of Annals of Internal Medicine, found that a gentle yoga class seemed to be a better alternative to general exercise or a self-care book, and it brought quicker results.

Karen J. Sherman, PhD, MPH, and her colleagues randomly assigned 101 adults to take either a 12-week yoga class (which was conducted as the viniyoga style, a philosophy that poses should be adapted to the individual’s needs), a 12-week standard therapeutic exercise class, or to follow the advice of a self-care book.

After 12 weeks, the adults who practiced yoga reported better low back function than their peers in either of the other two groups. After another 3 months, those in the exercise group had improved to a similar degree as the yogis.

Sherman speculates that viniyoga focuses on coordinating movement with the breath and concentrating the mind. According to Sherman, it is possible that yoga allowed the low back pain sufferers to become more aware of their habitual movements and postures that may have been contributing to their back pain.