On July 28, 1992, the Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) ruled:
"...the FHWA has decided that other health care professionals, including doctors of chiropractic, should be permitted to perform the driver physical examination, if they are authorized under state law to conduct such examinations and are proficient in the use of, and use, the medical protocols necessary to adequately perform the physical examination...
"...There is sufficient justification to permit... DCs and other health care professionals to make the driver medical qualification determination and sign the physical examination form and the medical examiners certificate."
The FHWA stated their action properly reflects state licensure law and the "wide acceptance of these professionals by the public, health care facilities, MDs, and DOs."
Since April 1990, when the FHWA took the proposal under consideration, the ACA initiated a broad-based letter writing campaign. In a May 21, 1990 letter to the FHWA, ACA's Executive Vice President J. Ray Morgan wrote: "The physical examination required by the FHWA is virtually indistinguishable from those the DC is trained and licensed to perform. Concerns over the inability of DCs to identify conditions which could disqualify persons from serving as commercial vehicle drivers should be dispelled by the fact that legal requirements demand sufficiency in differential diagnosis."
Reeve Askew, D.C., ACA board member commented that the DOT's action shows the opportunities for the profession's recognition at the federal level.
When I graduated from chiropractic college in 1981 and started practice, I heard it all, and very little was positive. “You are a quack; you do not know what a subluxation is; you couldn’t get into a real health care program, so you chose the one that is slightly above a mail-order degree; you have no proof that chiropractic works; Are you really licensed?”, and so much more.
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A central challenge in creating our identity is that chiropractic is a method of care, not a technique or procedure. This is an important concept for us to promote. Our patients are treated with lifestyle modification, exercise, nutritional supplements, diet and a whole-body approach to accelerate the natural healing process. We are not simply CMT providers.
The results of a global survey released late last year (2023) unveiled some startling findings among medical and nursing students. The “Clinician of the Future: 2023 Education Edition” surveyed 2,212 students, of which 446 were in the United States, from 91 countries.
