Health Insights Today
Chiropractic at the Nation’s Premier Military Hospital
Interview with Sarah Potthoff, DC
Interview by Daniel Redwood, DC
Can you describe how chiropractors are integrated into the health care staff?
There are two chiropractors at what is now called Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. For patients to come to our clinic, they have to be referred by another department in the hospital.
And there are enough of those referrals that you aren’t spending much time just sitting around?
There’s a waiting list for chiropractic care, which is unfortunate. I know that at one point it was something like two months. However, wounded warriors have priority and are able to be seen within a timely manner in most cases. Dr. Morgan, Dr. Kearney, his intern, and I have been very busy and have been able to take the waiting list down a bit. At this point, I think it’s down to a month.
How do you hope to use what you’ve learned these past few months for the benefit of your patients and your profession?
I think the world of this internship and I want other students to have the opportunity to go through this. For our profession to grow, and to be integrated and recognized, all of what we’ve been wanting for so long, we need to start with our education. This, and other experiences like it, need to be a mandatory part of this growth. Not only from the educational standpoint, which is huge in itself, but for students to be able to interact with other health professionals.
I cannot say enough about the interesting cases that we see, the communication that we learn. On top of that, there’s a maturation process that you go through. In the book you gave me (Manifesto for a New Medicine, by James Gordon, MD), Dr. Gordon talks about a spiritual maturity that health professionals really need to have. I couldn’t agree more with that. I know that I have grown so much since I’ve been here. I think that maybe chiropractic, and other health professions as well, lack some of that. When someone comes into your office and puts their health in your hands, you have to be able to be compassionate and think clearly and be mature about it. For our profession, I want to be sure that these clinical internships are available, both within the military and other settings.
I also think that our profession’s efforts in research are extremely important. Talking to members of other health professions, as I have done so often here, I understand how important it is for us to be able to explain what we do, and show its validity, and the fact that we can handle low back pain and other conditions. As I go through my rotations, I’ve seen that doctors don’t know what to do with low back pain. They don’t really know where to send these patients so they end up just using a lot of medications. They’re frustrated by this. When we can show them good research supporting our work, and if we continue to do more and better research to prove its benefits, then we can have a great relationship. There’s a great need for us.
Is there anything else you’d like to share?
There is a huge need for chiropractic care in hospitals. Sometimes we forget that healing sick people is the ultimate goal. As a profession, we need to focus on that, rather than getting lost in the pettiness of battles over the definition of subluxation. We need to focus on what matters most, serving our patients. Being able to bring chiropractic care into hospitals is one important way to do that. The time is now.
Daniel Redwood, DC, the interviewer, is a Professor at Cleveland Chiropractic College–Kansas City. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Health Insights Today and The Daily HIT, and serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of the American Chiropractic Association, Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, and Topics in Integrative Healthcare.
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