Medicare Covers Chiropractic

I was asked today whether Medicare (that’s insurance for those over 65 or on Disability) covers chiropractic.  I thought everyone knew that yes, Medicare does cover chiropractic.  But, unless you are in it yourself, why would you know this? 

So, that’s this blog topic. 

Medicare covers chiropractic adjustments of the spine but not the wrist or shoulder or anything other than the spine.  It also, does NOT cover the examination nor imaging to determine WHAT to adjust, but it’s still a good idea and we always want to see what we’re working on.  Particularly if you’ve been on the planet 6 or 7 decades or more.  There’s always interesting things we find on the images.

Where coverage stands today is, Medicare beneficiaries are entitled to chiropractic care from between 12 and 36 visits per year depending on the severity of the spine damage and its effects on quality of life. They do not pay for maintenance or wellness care. They won’t pay if you don’t have pain or some problem in performing activities of daily living (ADLs).   In other words, just because you have scoliosis, they don’t care.  If you can’t bend over to tie your shoes because of scoliosis, THAT"S what they would pay for care to improve for you.  So any functional limitation. For example, that could be reaching over your head, inability to sleep well, restless legs syndrome, balance problems and yes, back or neck pain kind of problems.  It’s not uncommon for seniors to be sleeping in a chair because they literally can’t lie down at night.  If this is you or your spouse, we can help.

If you’ve been on the planet for 5 decades or more, you may be feeling the effects of old injuries and pain as a result.  One the hallmarks of old injuries is arthritis with resultant limitation in range of motion.  Predominantly, looking up for the neck and shoulder range of motion problems.  How ya gonna play pickleball with that? 

Seniors typically recover lost range of motion with adjustments. Whether the limitation is in bending down or in playing golf, pickle ball or getting off the floor playing with grandkids, chiropractic helps by restoring the body’s normal range of motion.

Arthritis is not caused by old age. It is caused by injuries, that didn’t kill you and you lived long enough to see the resultant scar tissue replaced by bone spurs etc… which takes 10-30 years.  So, you have to have some years on the planet to have arthritis. 

Those injuries to the spine and soft tissues around the spine, cause range of motion problems first.  Loss of range of motion then promotes arthritis.  Due to loss of range of motion and the fact that cartilage doesn’t have blood supply, it relies on normal range of motion for the opposing cartilage surface to wash the fluid in the joint over its surface.  That’s where cartilage nutrition comes from.  If the joint gets “stuck” the cartilage deteriorates at a cellular level within 14 days.  At the lowest level of benefit is the fact that joint deterioration will be slowed by getting adjusted and restoring range of motion.

Other common senior problems are with balance and coordination as they pose a risk for fractures due to falls.  A fall can be devastating to the body.  Not just the fall and injury but the loss of mobility in recovery often brings on other problems. Chiropractic helps balance because the nerves in the neck coordinate with the back part of your brain, the cerebellum, to keep your balance. 

The central nervous system depends on properly functions nerves everywhere in order to keep the body healthy. When parts are impinged, and subluxations are present, health problems may arise. Chiropractic care helps the elderly improve overall health by allowing the body to communicate freely as a way of providing more energy, flexibility, and sufficient sleep. Regularly scheduled chiropractic adjustments will increase the quality of life and improve health.

There’s some interesting research on seniors getting adjusted over time.   In a study 20 years ago, seniors going to the chiropractor regularly over 5 years, experienced 60% less hospitalizations, 85% less spent on medications than the “healthy population”.   (Not kidding, that’s how they worded the results.  I wouldn’t call the population not getting adjusted using medications and ending up in the hospital healthy, but that’s our culture today.)  It’s simply amazing the benefits of keeping your nervous system working well. Healthy is your body functioning at 100% of its potential, not simply feeling good.  You can feel good and die of a heart attack tomorrow or have cancer all over and still feel good.  

One of the criticisms of the senior research study design was that it didn’t account for other factors like eating clean and exercising. The critics of the study felt that’s something that health-conscious people seeking chiropractic care would be more likely to engage in.  Therefore, the critics conclude that the research wasn’t specific enough to account for these variables.  That’s a fair critique.  You DO need to eat clean.  You DO need to exercise.  But nobody’s found this dramatic drop in hospitalizations for people working with nutritionists or personal trainers, only chiropractic.

Regardless, if you want to be wealthy, hang around wealthy people and learn what they do and do it. If you want to be healthy, hang around with healthy people and do what they do. Healthy people are not found in medical clinics or hospitals.  They are found in chiropractic offices, health food stores and I’d like to say gyms, but having spent some time in gyms…. I can’t say that as a group, they are healthy.  They are conscious of their looks but many are still eating Snickers bars and on a bunch of medications, misguided in a belief that every problem is improved by muscle tone and how they look in the mirror.

You could just exercise.  You could just eat healthy.  You could just get adjusted.  However, if you do all three of these, you are going to do better than 90% of the population.  It’s just a good idea and really, it’s just common sense.

Vibrant Life Center.