Oregon Senate Bill 1547 adds chiropractic physicians, naturopathic physicians, physical therapists, and occupational therapists to the list of qualified health professionals that can assess a concussed student athlete and provide a release to start stepwise return-to-play protocols.
Oregon Health and Sciences University (OHSU) is producing a comprehensive online concussion return-to-play and learning course that all qualified health professionals must successfully complete. This evidence- and consensus-based course will be updated every four years in coordination with the International Consensus Meeting on Concussion in Sports.
One interesting benefit that came out of this legislation is a clear furthering of our profession's goal of achieving cultural authority. Early on, a state senator who is also a medical physician and adjunctive professor in primary care at OHSU was of the opinion, "Well, chiropractors aren't trained in concussion!" However, strategically connecting this state senator with chiropractic sports physicians and a chiropractic board-certified functional neurologist changed her view.
To her credit, once exposed to our training and clinical skills sets, she completely reversed her opinion and became our strong political ally. She even helped us counter the opposition from the Oregon Medical Association, the Oregon Association of Orthopedic Surgeons, Osteopathic Physicians & Surgeons of Oregon, and the Oregon School Boards Association.
During one of the Senate Health Committee hearings, this senator and MD referred to one of our chiropractic sports physicians as her good friend, a chiropractic physician and a concussion expert. It doesn't get any better.
Building coalitions of health care providers, even including groups you have battled against in the past, can be a very effective tool to get what you want. Help enough others get what they want and you might just get what you want.
Editor's Note: For further details, look for the complete version of this article in the May issue under Dr. Saboe's "Political Pearls" column.
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