Over the past decade, chiropractic care has been increasingly recognized for its important role in health care and wellness. But it is still not recognized in all circumstances as a medical treatment per se.
For example, when filing a claim for disability benefits, the Social Security Administration (SSA) requires applicants to provide medical documentation that supports their case. This type of documentation has to come from an SSA-approved source. So a typical question applicants filing for any back related disability ask is whether their chiropractor provide me with an approved documentation.
In a word, no. Even though a doctor of chiropractic has sufficient qualifications to provide certain types of treatment for neuro-musculoskeletal conditions, the SSA does not recognize chiropractors as legitimate sources for obtaining medical treatment in a disability case. The chiropractic treatment records, opinions, and images such as X-rays may be reviewed but are not really given much credence or weight when determining a disabling condition.
Despite the proven relief and cures provides by chiropractors, according to the SSA such treatments are alternative, another way of saying not acceptable. So when applying for disability, it is necessary to be diagnosed by a physician, who will provide the necessary accepted medical documentation.
Despite the SSA not recognizing chiropractors as legitimate practitioners for disability cases, in many other areas chiropractic treatments are becoming more accepted. For example, chiropractors can play a role in pediatric settings, including infants.
Babies can suffer birth traumas during cesarean sections or other interventions and if the baby’s head gets pulled it can misalign the spine. In those cases, parents have sought chiropractic treatments for their newborns or infants. Some parents not skeptical and worry that any kind of treatment on your bones and joints not fully formed may be dangerous or at the very least irresponsible.
But other parents swear by it and start bringing their children in for regular treatments at young ages – after falls or just for general wellness. Some chiropractors claim to have seen improvements in children with autism and ADHD. Not surprisingly, a majority of the medical community maintain a pediatrician is the only proper medical practitioner but so far there has been no evidence presented tat starting children on a wellness lifestyle that includes chiropractic care is harmful.
But is it suggested that parents do due diligence and find a chiropractor that specializes in pediatric patients or a pediatric practice that offers chiropractic services. And make sure you feel comfortable and have a rapport with the practitioner as trust is the cornerstone of any wellness program.
