Medicare chiropractic care: A good option for seniors
Seniors can benefit from chiropractic care, which helps address joint deterioration from a lifetime of stress to the spine. Chiropractic care offers many potential benefits to seniors, including:
- Relief from chronic pain
- Increased range of motion
- Improved balance and coordination
- Reduced risk for falls
- Increased energy
- Overall improvement in quality of life
Medicare chiropractic coverage
Fortunately, Medicare does cover the main form of chiropractic care: manual (i.e., using the hands) adjustment of the spine to correct a subluxation (spinal misalignment). Correcting these types of misalignments – and the underlying effects on soft tissue structures and your central nervous system – can help address joint deterioration and also provide relief from a range of chronic conditions, including back pain, neck pain and headaches.
Conditions for Medicare chiropractic coverage
Medicare chiropractic coverage is offered under the following conditions:
- Medicare covers chiropractic manual adjustment of the spine if medically necessary to correct a subluxation.
- All people with Medicare are covered for a certain percentage of the manual adjustment cost.
- Other diagnostic costs, including X-rays, are not covered.
For more information about Medicare chiropractic coverage, visit Medicare.gov.