Chiropractic Care to All Major VA Medical Centers

The US Military is another step closer to making chiropractic care available. I personally suffered needlessly for year with knee pain as a dependent. It was not until I discovered chiropractic care over 20 years later that I found my cure.

Here is the great hope for those in our military reported from the American Chiropractic Association.

"House Passes Bill to Expand Chiropractic Care to All Major VA Medical Centers

The U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 1017, the ''Chiropractic Care Available to All Veterans Act,'' tonight, putting America's veterans one step closer to gaining access to chiropractic care at all major Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical centers. The bill was approved 365:6.

H.R. 1017 requires the VA to have doctors of chiropractic on staff at no fewer than 75 major VA medical centers before the end of 2011 and for all major VA medical centers to have a doctor of chiropractic on staff before the end of 2013. There are nearly 160 VA treatment facilities nationwide. Currently, the VA provides chiropractic care at 32 treatment facilities across the country.

The bill comes after a recent VA report, "Analysis of VA Health Care Utilization Among Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) Veterans," from Feb 2010 which cites "diseases of Musculoskeletal System/Connective System," such as back pain, as the number one ailment of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans accessing VA treatment.

The American Chiropractic Association (ACA) believes that the inclusion of chiropractic care in the VA health care system would speed the recovery of many of the veterans returning from current operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Chiropractic care has been proven to be a cost-effective and beneficial treatment option. In fact, a 2010 study published in Clinical Rehabilitation found that spinal manipulation provided better short and long-term functional improvement and more pain relief in follow-up assessments than other physiotherapy interventions. Furthermore, a 2003 study published in the medical journal Spine found that manual manipulation provides better short-term relief of chronic spinal pain than a variety of medications."