Chiropractic Care Has Mainstream Appeal

The above is the headline of a feature story that appeared in the August 11, 2006 issue of the Post-Crescent, a local news service for the Appleton, Wisconsin area.  The article written by their staff writer, Wendy Harris, takes an overview look at the chiropractic profession and interviews two local chiropractors as sources of information. 

The article starts out by chronicling the story of a young middle school girl named Rachel who had been suffering from frequent migraines.  Her mother, concerned for her daughter took her to a chiropractor who upon examination discovered that Rachel had several congenitally fused bones in her neck.  Apparently these bones had also moved and were irritating nerves and creating young Rachel's problems.

The article then fast forwards to Rachel at 29 and notes that even with her congenital defects she is virtually migraine free, suffering only one or two episodes per year.  The article notes that Rachel credits her chiropractor.  “I used to get migraines at least once a month, and sometimes three times a week,” states Rachel. “They are really infrequent now. My last migraine was six months ago.”

Wendy Harris, the author of the article, notes that chiropractic is presently the United State's third largest primary health care profession.  Only medicine and dentistry have more practitioners.  She also noted that according to the Annals of Internal Medicine, there are approximately 190 million patient visits to chiropractors each year.

The article also quotes Dr. Mark Hallett, a family practice and sports medicine physician who is also medical director of ThedaCare Orthopedics Plus in Appleton Wisconsin.  He states, "There have been more studies that have come out documenting the effectiveness of chiropractic and the cost effectiveness of it.”   The article notes that the result of this is that medical doctors are increasingly referring patients to chiropractors.