MUA

Texas Court Limits Chiropractic Scope

A district court judge has ruled that chiropractors must limit their diagnoses to biomechanical conditions of the spine and musculoskeletal system. The judge’s order ended a four-year lower-court battle that pitted the Texas Medical Association (TMA) and Texas Medical Board )against the Texas Board of Chiropractic Examiners (TBC) and Texas Chiropractic Association (TCA). The judge’s reasoning is spelled out in the decision letter below. The TMA initiated the suit in 2006 to block TBC rules that would permit chiropractors to perform clinical needle electromyography (EMG) and spinal manipulation under anesthesia (MUA), which, the TMA charged were beyond the chiropractors’ lawful scope of practice. The TMA also challenged whether chiropractors should have the right to “diagnose” medical conditions. MUA has some respectable use for treating frozen …