Dr. Steven Novella on what I call “Chiro-quackery”. At best it might be considered physical therapy and/or overpriced massage and at it’s worst it’s pure bullshit and quackery.
Most of this bone alignment shit is a myth. A chiropractor will tells you your vertebrae are out of alignment and then cracks your back. You hear the noise of it cracking and they tell you that was it being put back into alignment when what is really the case they just cracked your back in the same way you crack your knuckles and that sound you hear is not really your vertebrae going back into alignment but is in reality just a release of gasses in the joints making noise just like cracking your knuckles does.
Its a sales job with supporting sound effects and it works to sell the mythology.
As Richard Feynman once said—“Science is what we have learned about how to keep from fooling ourselves.”—
Dr. Harriet Hall on Chiropractic from her great 10 lecture series on Science Based Medicine vs “Alternative Medicine”.
• More reading on the subject of Chiropractic…
- Chiropractors are bullshit | The Outline
- The evidence shows that chiropractors do more harm than good | Spectator Health
- Neck Manipulation: Risk vs. Benefit – Science-Based Medicine
- Chiropractic: A Skeptical View – Society for Science-Based Medicine Wiki
- chiropractic – The Skeptic’s Dictionary – Skepdic.com
- Spinal Manipulation for Back and Neck Pain: Does It Work? Annotated. – Science-Based Medicine
- Pushback on Chiropractic – Science-Based Medicine
- Jason Ellis | Subluxation: A Chiropractic crock of shit!
- Chirobase: Your Skeptical Guide to Chiropractic History, Theories, and Practices
- Dr. Stephen Gorski (aka Orac)
- Tell the FDA not to embrace quackery: Write to oppose its proposal on acupuncture and chiropractic for chronic pain – Respectful Insolence
- Mystery solved: Chiropractic manipulation of the neck did cause Katie May’s death from stroke – Respectful Insolence
- Chiropractic “research” and autism – Respectful Insolence
- No, JAMA does not now recommend chiropractic care first for low back pain – Respectful Insolence
- Chiropractic and antivax: Two quacky tastes that taste quacky together – Respectful Insolence
- Physical therapy+massage+woo=chiropractic – denialism blog
- Defending Falsehoods – The Skeptic’s Dictionary – Skepdic.com
- Why chiropractic is patently ridiculous – White Coat Underground
The article ends with —”…Chiropractic may have a place in the treatment of low back pain—or it may not. Chiropractors are basically glorified massage therapists—except many massage therapists have better training, and know the limits of their profession. Chiropractors who discourage real medical care, vaccinations, and medications, or sell herbs and other potions out of their offices should be ashamed of themselves.But of course, they have no shame.”— - Changing Someone’s Mind on Chiropractors | Skeptoid
- Physical Therapists may win one in turf war with chiropractors – Society for Science-Based Medicine
- Chiropractic–The More Research We Do, The Less Reason There is to Believe it Works | The SkeptVet
- Veterinary Chiropractic – Science-Based Medicine
- Three advocates of chiropractic write in « Why Evolution Is True
- Chiropractors: Pro and Con – CSI