NOW Is the Time! Sports Physicals Completed on or After April 15, 2026, Are Valid for the Upcoming 2026-2027 School Year
DOCTORS! GET ENGAGED!
- Download the Handout.
- Distribute the Handout to your school’s Athletic Director ASAP.
- Use the talking points when discussing the issue with your school AD.
GET YOUR PATIENTS INVOLVED!
- Download the Parent Handout.
- Print and distribute it to all of your patients who have kids who would benefit from chiropractors being allowed to perform these crucial screenings.
The effort to ensure that chiropractors can perform school athletic pre-participation screenings continues. But NOW is a critical time to get involved and to engage your patients and local athletic directors!
According to Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) rules, pre-participation physicals are required for all students who participate in school sports. Physicals dated after April 15, 2026, are valid for the upcoming 2026-2027 school sports season.
There is no question a chiropractor has the requisite education, training, and scope of practice to perform these assessments. We need the participation of Michigan chiropractors and the chiropractic community to ensure that another school athletic season does not speed by with chiropractors – who are educated and trained to perform these examinations – being restricted from doing so!
The Issue
The inability of chiropractors to perform these screenings is driven by three things:
- A fundamental misunderstanding of what we do as chiropractors
- The profession’s place in Michigan’s health care delivery system
- The discriminatory and anti-competition efforts of the traditional medical community
There is no legal or rational basis for MHSAA to not include chiropractors in the list of healthcare professionals who can perform these screenings.
The public is driving the need to include chiropractors in this process. MAC members across the state have families in their communities that have asked them to perform this service. Since the population of healthcare providers is not evenly distributed in Michigan, there are areas of healthcare shortages – particularly in rural and urban areas – that make it difficult to access providers who can perform the MHSAA screening. This inequity adds costs in terms of time and money for students and their families in these areas. Adding chiropractic physicians to the MHSAA list of approved healthcare providers who can perform this vital function will help alleviate this problem.
Over the past three years, MAC Chairman of the Board Dr. Robert Markle and members of staff met with representatives from the Michigan High School Athletic Association in an effort to convince them to reconsider their stance that chiropractors cannot perform these screenings. The last time Dr. Markle spoke to MHSAA Executive Director Mark Uyl, he told him that in order for the MHSAA Representative Council to reverse its longtime, anti-chiropractic stance, he needed to hear from his athletic directors in the field about the need for the change.
If the MHSAA needs to hear from us, we need to make some noise!
A little effort from YOU today will make a huge difference in the successful resolution of this effort!
