American Public Health Association Chiropractic Health Care Section - Professional Resources: Country Specific: US

American Public Health Association Chiropractic Health Care Section
741 Brady Street
Davenport, IA 52803 USA
Phone: 563-884-5854

Public health has never been a popular topic in chiropracticÛmaybe because to most of us it connotes nothing but microorganisms and sewage treatment.

So what IS "public health," and why should DCs care about it?

Public health represents the efforts made by a society to protect, promote and restore health. Yes, microorganisms and sewage treatment are part of these efforts. Public health supports clean water, clean air and safe communitiesÛcertainly something all chiropractors already support. Public health also supports prevention and health promotionÛand we certainly support that! Why should we go further than supporting public health in principleÛand make the effort to join with our communities to actively support it? First, we can increase our impact on society by adding our skills and knowledge to those of the rest of the public health community; this is one of our main responsibilities as health care professionals. Second, we can help our individual patients even more by utilizing the extant information on prevention and health promotion. Third, we can help members of the public health community understand how chiropractic supports health and wellness.

Here are some facts we would all like to see change:

Only 11% of Americans use chiropractic, even less worldwide.
Most people seek care for spine-related pain, not general health or wellness.
Insurance does not reimburse for chiropractic wellness care.
Getting involved in the mainstream public health community may be one way to change these facts, by emphasizing that chiropractic is really about health and wellness, and not just pain relief. Getting involved in public health policy-making is another way to work toward new utilization patterns for chiropractic. Both these involvements can be achieved by joining a powerful public health organization.

The principal public health organization in the U.S. is the American Public Health Association (APHA). APHA is over 125 years old and has over 30,000 membersÛthe oldest and largest public health organization in the world. Although chiropractors have been involved in APHA since at least the 1970Ìs, in 1995, the profession increased its role in the organization with the formation of the Chiropractic Health Care Section.