Animal Chiropractic Update: Case Study with Dr. Marissa and Dr. Bek

There are only five states across the entire United States that have more than 50% of their licensed chiropractors as members of their respective organizations; that is a concerning statistic. 

It’s atrocious when you consider there are only 80,000 chiropractors in the entire US. 

We have underfunded and understaffed associations, but we face Herculean issues. 

Chiropractors should never be regulated by anyone other than the chiropractic board. We don’t care what the specialty is, nor do we care what the issue is. 

If we don’t have language under our chiropractic boards to define what chiropractic is, then the public starts to get to do things and call themselves things that they shouldn’t. People calling themselves chiropractors but not being licensed as such is a problem.

We must control what chiropractic is; if we don’t control that, we will lose it. It’s going to go to PTs; it’s going to go to DOs; the term’ chiropractic will likely disappear. 

They’ll call themselves mobilization or musculoskeletal manipulation; they’re using those terms now. We’ve seen that in California. They want to change the terminology of this away from a specific chiropractic adjustment and make it a modality that’s a mobilization technique. We cannot allow that to happen.

The objective of OneChiropractic, and what we’re doing right now as part of this 30-day campaign, is to bring the specialty of animal chiropractic together. 

Within the last year, we have gone from two states fighting this to now 17 states. We’ve got two states that have just passed, which is always fantastic. Tennessee and New Hampshire. Maine will likely pass at the end of this year. I still hold out hope that we’re going to get California done at the end of this year. Texas, we’re in deep conversation with their licensing board to see if we can find a regulatory pathway there, and it continues with Florida, Michigan, Georgia, and Washington state, among others. 

We’re excited about the momentum. But that’s a lot more work for us; we’ve got to build fire teams, get groups of chiropractors to understand what we are doing, we need to go to associations and get the associations on board, get the licensing board onboard, have stakeholder meetings, and then get a legislator to put language in, none of this happens quick. And we need your help. 

We spoke with two animal chiropractors, Dr. Bek and Dr. Marissa, who took the charge in California, and are seeing the impact that we can make when we join together and organize, through OneChiropractic.

Listen to the podcast HERE

Dr. Marissa: 

“I had been forming a relationship with the senator [in California], and that’s where we were able to get to the point of having a legislator author a bill. However, I will say that during that process working with a legislator her goal is to be transparent and talk to the veterinary side and having Bharon with OneChiropractic and the Chiropractic Defense Council (CDC) involved also helped give the legislator and her staff confidence that we can get this done, as this is a larger organization that has been in the legislative field for many years, and has helped things get passed, and has an understanding of the legislative processes, having and the CDC helped give the senator confidence that we can get this done. 

Dr. Bek: 

Bharon has been an integral part of all the conversations with the senator and their office, as well as the various stakeholder meetings we’ve had. Your knowledge of animal chiropractic and the way you speak about it has really helped. 

Dr. Marissa: 

Chiropractic is already really confusing. Everybody does things differently, whether it’s style or philosophy, but for us to get something done like this requires all people at the table so that we have the chance to have a clear message of getting this passed. And that, for animal chiropractors, the board should be the regulatory board. 

Dr. Bek: 

Having a third party that’s not partial to one state, this is an overall group effort of the profession, also because you’re working with human chiropractors that has helped carry weight in the animal chiropractic segment, because you are already established in that space. Just reaching out to animal chiropractors through this process. We understand that not everybody will be able to come up to bat. That leads into what you’re trying to accomplish right now, gaining more traction by having a list of all animal chiropractors in different states and having those willing to donate $33 a month, like Marissa and I do. We practice what we preach because Bharon, OneChiropractic, and the CDC are putting so much on the line for us. Now that we don’t have to be the face of it anymore, we appreciate that.

I’m excited about the momentum we have. It is incredible how many states have had legislation passed, even since 2023. Since we started our journey together, and now those that are about to pass, we know that, unfortunately, we live in California, one of the most challenging states. 

We know that it’s created a snowball effect in some of these smaller states. So, we thank the smaller states for passing this legislation, as it adds to our data to present at the Sacramento capital and in Texas. The more states that have passed legislation, the easier it will be for these larger, tougher states to pass their legislation.

We are thankful for Bharon helping because for those of you that are not aware, I can say that 100% confidently OneChiropractic has been the driving factor behind the scenes getting the entire profession as a whole talking about this and some of those big groups, like the thought leaders of the profession that are not animal chiropractors, but people that are sitting at the tables of the boards and the magazines, that are now on board with this. 

Dr. Marissa: 

When we are organized, we can accomplish more. It is inspiring to see the changes that are happening. We’re on the right side of the coin. We’re here to serve, whether it’s humans or animals, and people see the value of what we do. This is an excellent opportunity for chiropractic to be shined upon.