Chiropractors End Bid for Role in Sports Exams

Facing stiff opposition from area medical doctors, the California Chiropractic Assn. on Monday derailed its own campaign to get the Los Angeles Unified School District to accept sports screening physical examinations by chiropractors.

The Board of Education had been scheduled to vote on a proposal to change school district rules to allow chiropractors and some other licensed medical practitioners to perform the exams that are required for all students who participate in athletics. Unlike several smaller districts in California, Los Angeles requires that the exams be done by a “licensed physician or surgeon”--meaning a medical doctor or an osteopath.

But Supt. Leonard Britton told board members the chiropractic association “asked that (the proposed change) be removed” from consideration.

None of the chiropractors seeking the change was at Monday’s board meeting, nor could they be reached for comment. However, association spokesman Paul Lehman acknowledged earlier that the campaign had run afoul of “vigorous opposition” from the Los Angeles County Medical Assn.

Lehman said the chiropractors will press their drive through the state Board of Education and the California Interscholastic Federation, which oversees school athletic competitions throughout the state. The federation’s bylaws require only that the exams be done by any “medical practitioner.”

Board Member Jackie Goldberg, who favored the chiropractors’ proposal, noted that representatives of the county medical association have offered to provide “a wider range of free services . . . so let’s follow up on their offer.”