Chiropractors could give student physicals

Assembly approves measure for athletes

MADISON - Lawmakers have reopened a decades-long controversy over letting chiropractors do physicals for student athletes, with the Assembly passing legislation to allow it.

Currently, doctors and physician assistants perform these sports physicals to determine if a youth can play organized sports.

The state’s physicians, hospitals, nurses, insurers and the state’s school sports association all opposeAssembly Bill 260, which would allow chiropractors to do the physicals if theytake a training program.

The opponents include David Bernhardt, a primary care sports physician who helped edit a text on performing sports physicals for the American Academy of Pediatrics.

“I worry that there will be kids who play who shouldn’t be playing and I worry that kids will miss opportunities to receive immunizations that they should receive,” Bernhardt said of the change.

A spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzger-

ald (R-Juneau) had no comment on whether he supported the legislation, saying only that a vote in the Senate on the bill has not been scheduled.

Critics like Bernhardt say that chiropractors — whose field concentrates on using therapies on joints, muscle and bones — can’t sufficiently screen for things like heart defects, concussions and other potentially life-threatening health risks.

Despite the broad opposition, the bill passed the Assembly on June 21 on a voice vote in which lawmakers didn’t have to record their individual votes for or against the bill.

The proposal’s lead sponsor, Rep. Chuck Wichgers (R-Muskego), said his bill empowers

parents by letting them choose their family chiropractor to perform their child’s sports physical rather than a doctor.Wichgers, who takes his family to a chiropractor, said that not all families have a relationship with a doctor.

To perform the physical, chiropractors would have to receive additional training through a program created by the state’s Chiropractic Examining Board with input from clinical experts.

“This is about a (chiropractor) being able to examine a patient and parents being able to choose the examiner, as long as they’re qualified . ... Why would a (chiropractor) spend thousands of dollars and have student loans the rest of their lives to then put a child’s life at risk for a $20 physical?” Wichgers said.

Wade Labecki isn’t convinced that tasks such as assessing mental health or an irregular heart beat are a good fit for chiropractors, who are trained to treat injuries and health conditions by manipulating and adjusting joints and body structures.

“Medical doctors can evaluate this valuable piece. This part of an athlete’s career is best measured by people with this training,” said Labecki, the deputy director of the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association. “It’s the scope of what their training has prepared them for.”

Wichgers disagreed, saying that the training chiropractors receive covers all aspects of a sports exam. He said if a chiropractor were to discover a heart abnormality, the chiropractor could refer the child to a specialist.

The bill’s critics respond by pointing out that a medical doctor might be able to treat a child in the same appointment after the initial examination.

Bernhardt said sports physicals also provide doctors with an important opportunity to see young patients that they might not otherwise see. Physicians can use a sports exam to vaccinate the youth and talk about other issues such as mental health, sexual activity or drug use, he noted.

The chiropractor bill was held up initially within the Assembly Committee on Health, said Rep. Joe Sanfelippo (R-New Berlin), the panel’s chairman. Sanfelippo confirmed that he had scheduled a committee vote on the bill after getting questions about the bill’s status from the office of Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (RRochester) but said he hadn’t been ordered to advance the proposal.

“I wouldn’t move the bill just because leadership told me to move the bill,” Sanfelippo said.

He said he had concerns about the legislation that he was able to work out with the main group promoting it, the Wisconsin Chiropractic Association. Sanfelippo said he wouldn’t take a child to a chiropractor for a sports physical but thought parents should be able to do so.

Sanfelippo acknowledged he was surprised that the bill didn’t get a roll call vote on the floor of the Assembly.

“I quite frankly was surprised there wasn’t a roll call on a lot of things (that day),” he said.