State Rep. Mike Callton, who is also a chiropractor, is pleased that the state has eased regulations that will allow him more latitude in treating patients. The next step, he says, is to get more reimbursement from insurers and government health plans. / Photos by JESSICA J. TREVINO/Detroit Free Press
BY BILL LAITNER

DETROIT FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

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Mike Callton demonstrates a neck adjustment on his summer intern, Jessica Fountain. Callton, a chiropractor, has treated fellow lawmakers in his Lansing office.

Chiropractors can do more

A 2010 state law lets Michigan chiropractors perform more services.

FORMERLY: Could treat joint dysfunction only in the spine and adjacent joints.

NOW: Can treat joint dysfunction anywhere in the body.

FORMERLY: Could not perform physical therapy (PT).

NOW: Can perform PT, including using ice, heat, electric muscle stimulation, water therapy, ultrasound, traction, taping, rehabilitative exercise and more.

FORMERLY: Could not perform blood tests or measure blood pressure.

NOW: Can perform and order many tests.



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He's quite the rare bird in Lansing.

State Rep. Michael Callton is the first chiropractor elected to the state Legislature. He performs spinal adjustments and other chiropractic care for lobbyists and lawmakers in his Lansing office.

"A lot of them don't even know what we do," he says.

Callton's election in November came just months after Michigan chiropractors won a fight for wider acceptance, getting the state law that regulates what chiropractors and other health professionals can do for their patients broadened.

Since the late 1970s, chiropractors had been hamstrung by a state health code with tight limits, among them: They could treat only a patient's spinal area and joints near it, such as the elbow and hip. Last year, after decades of lobbying and despite opposition by physician groups, lawmakers eased the rules. Now, chiropractors can treat virtually all of the body's muscles and bones, and they can branch out to do physical therapy.

Callton, 53, a Republican who represents rural Barry and Ionia counties west of Lansing, is vice-chair of the House Health Policy Committee.

"Finally, we have a seat at the table. And it's a great time for chiropractors to be at the table because of all the decisions coming up in national health care," he says.

Untying the hands of chiropractors, no longer banning them from such tasks as taking a patient's blood pressure, makes sense to Peggy Schodowski, 45, of Rochester Hills.

Twelve years ago, before she moved to Michigan, Schodowski says she was helped by a Wisconsin chiropractor for a jaw problem -- care that Michigan chiropractors could not have given then. When her chiropractor pressed on her jaw, "I could actually feel it open up my hearing," she says.

"I started to go to him for my back. And one time, my jaw was clicking when I was there, and he said, 'Oh, I can treat that too.' "

Liz Dehn, 61, of Lake Orion is a retired nurse who -- contrary to the advice in hospitals where she worked -- has seen chiropractors for years, she says. Dehn, who injured her back lifting patients, was happy with the no-drug pain relief she got from a chiropractor.

"When I first went in, I couldn't even stand up straight" because of back pain, she says. Now, encouraged by her chiropractor, she does a lot of walking. Recently, under the broader scope of practice, her chiropractor treated her wrist pain, caused by overuse of a laptop computer.

According to state physician groups, Michigan has long had the narrowest scope of practice in the nation for its 2,400 licensed chiropractors. Now, the state falls roughly in the middle, helping the chiropractors compete with Michigan's primary-care medical doctors, a group nearly 10 times larger.

Before, "we were the Rodney Dangerfield of doctors -- we didn't get no respect," quips Kristine Dowell, executive director of the Michigan Association of Chiropractors in Lansing. Dowell says the wider scope was overdue because chiropractors were the first physicians to promote today's health-care grail of preventive, holistic, low-cost care, coupled with a philosophy that emphasizes diet and exercise over surgery and drugs.

Chiropractors believe that many of the body's ills stem from misaligned joints, mainly in the spine. They treat pain mainly by manipulating spinal joints, aiming to release pressure points -- called subluxations -- where, according to chiropractic theory, the spinal nerves are squeezed to cause pain or disease.

Chiropractors must complete four years of graduate training, generally after receiving an undergraduate degree, making their educations comparable to those of medical doctors, Dowell says. Admission to chiropractic colleges, however, is widely known to be less rigorous than that for medical schools.

In Michigan, as in other states, chiropractors can't perform surgery or prescribe drugs. Some critics contend that chiropractors provide only short-term pain relief. And the September issue of Consumer Reports magazine warns that their treatments may be risky for neck pain.

There are wide variations in the types of treatments that chiropractors offer. Some stick closely to spinal manipulation while others sell nutrition supplements and weight-loss formulas. Still others offer an array of alternative therapies, including unsubstantiated approaches such as homeopathy.

"There are some out there that I think are quacks," says Schodowski, a single mother of two school-age children. She advises choosing a chiropractor based on the recommendation of a trusted friend.

Dr. Donald Reno of Sterling Heights, chairman of the Michigan Association of Chiropractors, says the broader legislation is revolutionizing his practice. He plans to add 50% more space, two associate chiropractors and a massage therapist in a new office he's building next to his current one.

"Before, it was just neck, back and low back. Now we can look at the whole picture," Reno says. He has a growing weight-loss practice and he advises cancer and diabetes patients on diet and exercise, he says.

Dr. Leigh Elceser, a chiropractor in Pontiac, sees many patients from a General Motors plant across the street. She says that much of her care is not covered by insurance so she often discounts her rates. An office visit costs $35 to $55, she says.

"I have a lot of people come in from the factory with carpal tunnel (a syndrome of wrist pain) or rotator cuff injuries (to the shoulder)," she says.

Before the scope of practice eased, "I couldn't help them. Now, even though I can treat them, some can't pay for it and their insurance doesn't cover it. But I can't just ignore them," she says.

That's a familiar complaint among chiropractors, including the new state lawmaker who is introducing chiropractic care to decision makers.

Chiropractors -- with their emphasis on prevention and low fees -- deserve more reimbursement for their services from insurers and government health plans, Callton says.

Achieving that is "my next big priority" in Lansing, he says.

Contact Bill Laitner: 586-826-7264 or blaitner@freepress.com


To view this article online, go to:  http://www.freep.com/article/20110821/FEATURES08/108210329/Attitude-adjustment-recent-law-their-side-chiropractors-work-newfound-respect


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