Local Chiropractor Is Top Examiner

When Dr. Ann Marra gives a prognosis, insurance companies listen.

Her medical opinion is backed by her certification from the American Board of Independent Medical Examiners.

Marra, who has been a chiropractor for nearly 17 years, examines patients with spinal injuries and offers second opinions for insurance companies.

"Say a ballerina is minding her own business and gets hit by a car," said Marra. "The feet she uses to be a ballerina are now damaged permanently. It's my job to give that patient an impairment reading."

For someone who sits at a desk all week, a fractured ankle would register in the lower range, but for a dancer, Olympic runner or mountain climber, such an injury would be life-altering. Therefore the impairment reading would be much higher and insurance companies, civil trial juries and others would have a lot more to consider, Marra said.

Marra pulled out an encyclopedia-sized manual, "Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment." It is the guide she uses when she is asked to issue an impairment reading.

She recently took the board-certified exam along with orthopedic surgeons, neurologists and other doctors who specialize in the spine or joints.

She passed the exam and now is a board-certified medical examiner for spinal injuries.

"It puts weight behind a mathematical (finding)," Marra said.

Whenever she is subpoenaed and someone asks her how she came up with her data, she not only has X-rays to support her prognosis, but the "chapter and verse" from her expansive manual.

"They usually back off then," she said. "They are less (willing) to subpoena me, but I'm prepared whenever they do."

Marra has practiced in Hernando County since 1994. Her husband is a local podiatrist. They live near Weeki Wachee.

She earned her bachelor's degree at Caldwell College in Caldwell, N.J., and earned her doctorate at Life University in Marietta, Ga.

She has been in charge of the Accurate Chiropractic Clinic for more than three years. She specializes in workman's compensation patients, as well as other personal injury patients young and old.

Her office includes two massage therapists, one insurance biller, an office manager and other administrative staff.

Biz at a glance:

Name of biz - Accurate Chiropractic Clinic

Doctor in charge - Ann Lauren Marra

Who she is - Chiropractic physician

Where she is - Mariner Crossing at 4191 Mariner Blvd. in Spring Hill

Get in touch - 352-666-0506

On the Web - www.accurate-chiro.com