By David Allen Stars and Stripes

CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa

Official chiropractic care for U.S. servicemembers has finally come to the Pacific. “It’s just another tool in the toolbox for medical care,” chiropractor Reggie Clifton, who arrived at U.S. Naval Hospital Okinawa in July, said recently in his office on Camp Foster.

He is one of only three civilian chiropractors at overseas military medical facilities, according to the Department of Defense. The other two are at the Baumholder and Vilseck U.S. Army health clinics in Germany.

The Defense Department also is recruiting a chiropractor for Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany. Chiropractic care in the military has been a long time coming.

Although President Bill Clinton signed into law the Permanent Chiropractic Benefit for Military Act in October 2000, the military has been slow to implement it, according to a 2005 Government Accountability Office report.

Sixty military clinics and hospitals — out of 232 military treatment facilities worldwide — are authorized to provide chiropractic care. Chiropractors treat patients suffering from musculoskeletal problems, chiefly back pain.

Many chiropractic treatments involve manipulation of the spine and other joints to bring them back into alignment, under the theory that spinal joint misalignments interfere with the nervous system and result in pain and a weakened immune system.

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