I suspect a major reason that “scientific”/“evidence-based” chiropractic has not caught on much, is that it’s not easy making a living just doing manipulation.
We’ve got a local chiro who believes he’s competent to address nutritional problems, “female hormone issues”, “detoxification”, type II diabetes, hypothyroidism, autoimmune conditions and weight loss. Judging by the big ads he runs in the paper on a frequent basis, his income must be sizable.
Well, if you go to the brothel to enjoy the piano music, you’re not engaging in the ‘woohoo’ which is the main purpose of the establishment. 
The main purpose of the science of chiropracty is to treat all diseases via spinal manipulation. That’s because according to their theory, it’s blocked ‘nerve flow’ that is responsible for all diseases. It’s a lucky coincidence that manipulation does help certain folks with musculo-skeletal complaints, but those complaints are not caused by ‘blocked nerve flow’. Even an actual pinched nerve does not behave according to chiropractic theory.
ETA: I think “woo” is a fine term also. And I’ve been battling against it longer than a lot of posters here have been alive, dadgummit!
The problem with words like “pseudoscience” and “quackery” is that the believers might not be able to understand words of more than two syllables. “Woo”, on the other hand, is only one syllable, so they can understand it. It’s also a sneering dismissal of such beliefs, which adds to the fun.
OK. I never considered that it purported to treat “all diseases”, so to the extent it does, I’ll go with “woo”. But it does help with a lot of “musculo-skeltal” problems I have, so I’m not ready to say 100% woo. It’s like if I dislocate my shoulder and someone not trained as a medical doctor pops it back in place, I’m OK with that.
I am also more confident that the average poster can spell “woo”. I don’t like to think how irritated I’d be after reading a thread full of multiple-choice spellings of “pseudoscience.”
Quite frankly, I don’t know why the government allows chiropractors to practice. The fundamental premise of it seems totally wrong; so any good results from it are either from the placebo effect, or from the body’s own healing. The “neck adjustment” ( violently snapping the head around) has been linked to several deaths, I would never submit to such a procedure.
Anyway, my big question: if your spine becomes “out of adjustment”, and you go to a chiroquack, he/she “adjusts it”-what keeps it from falling “out of adjustment”?
They (chiropractors) are probably qualified to do massage…anything beyond that, I’d pass on.
Nothing. That’s why you have to go back again the next week.
I understand that you’re a real medical doctor - can you tell us, if you know, how these quacks are allowed to call themselves “doctors”?
Well, their degree is “Doctor of Chiropractic”. There are folks out there with “Doctor of Homeopathy”, “Doctor of Naturopathy”, “Doctor of acupuncture and oriental medicine” and so on and so forth.
Doesn’t mean the degree is worth anything. There were doctors of alchemy in days gone by.
People who advertise their services as a “Doctor” are generally required to state where they got their degree from, and what area of study it was in. But otherwise the State tends to not decide who can call themselves a doctor. Practicing as one is subject to regulations, but said regulations are not generally based on on science.
Not that I’ve ever noticed.
Cite?
That’s exactly what’s wrong with it. It’s designed to aggravate. People who say “woo” all the time very often do so with the specific intent of causing annoyance.
This is not a useful thing to do when trying to fight ignorance.
Yeah, but do the vitalist theories of Palmer continue—in fact—to inform the understanding and practice of current chiropractors? I know the history of the development of chiropractic; what matters here is current belief and practice.
I mean, I could attribute to you any amount of horseshit (humors, trepannation) believed by Galen and Avicenna, the ancient progenitors of today’s allopathic physicians, but it would be an utter misrepresentation on my part to do so.
If current chiropractors believe that certain body-manipulation techniques can afford relief for various musculoskeletal symptoms, that’s not pseudoscience.
I wince every time I see the word “chiropractic” used as a noun. It just feels wrong. We don’t use words like “psychiatric” or “geriatric” or “therapeutic” or “neuropathic” as nouns—why the hell should “chiropractic” be a noun? That in itself is enough to severely bias me against [del]chiropratism[/del] [del]chiropracy[/del] [del]chiropractics[/del] [del]chiropractice[/del] whatever-the-heck-it’s-called: as though people who talk that way don’t understand how language works, so how can they be trusted to understand how health or the human body works?
While individual chiropractors may reject some chiropractic theory and instead practice a somewhat more science-based approach to treating musculo-skeletal problems, the profession as a whole has not repudiated the teachings of the Palmers, a father and son team who founded Chiropractic and then fell out with each other. Most chiropractors do mix traditional Chiro theory with more modern approaches such as exercise, massage and ice or heat therapy.
But the core teachings of the profession continue to be that all disease is caused by subluxations of vertebrae, and that vitalism, innate intelligence and spinal adjustments are the foundation for treating disease.
My regular doctor is a DO - Doctor of Osteopathy. DO’s get most of the same training as MD’s, with some extra focus on holistic wellbeing. They also do something called Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine. My impression is that this may have started with some sort chi energy type idea but nowadays, it’s mostly used for physical therapy and chiropractic type treatments.
The only time, I’ve ever had any of the OMM practiced on me, it was to help following a severe neck injury. For a couple years, I would go in every few months and he’d crack my back and neck for me. It was heavenly! It was kind of scary at first, because my bones made such loud cracking noises. I always felt immediate pain relief from it. Eventually, the time between sessions tapered off and today I would say my neck never bothers me at all. He never mentioned any woo at the time. He just said, let me align you spine better.
Aside from that all I see him for is basic GP stuff. We have a great relationship. I’ve been seeing him for years and I dread when he retires.
DO schools went mainstream science-based medical education long ago. Their manipulative techniques are now based on solid theories and rules of evidence. And most current DOs don’t do much manipulation because it hasn’t been shown to be real helpful (I’ve a cousin who’s a recent grad of a DO school, who informs me on their current practices.)
If the Chiros followed suit, they (and their patients) would be better for it.
I picked “somewhat woo, somewhat true” but it is much more towards the former than the latter (you should have added two more categories, “mostly woo, somewhat true” and “mostly true, somewhat woo”); while there seems to be some evidence that they can cure or at least improve the conditions they claim to treat, even then it isn’t based on scientific evidence (as most of them claim how it works).
I went to a chiropractor for 6-8 weeks after my car accident. (Woman at stop sign pulled out in front of me, I couldn’t stop, my car was totaled.)
I did feel relief, but I got the impression that for “permanent” relief, I would have to go regularly forever. At the time I did not have insurance so this was not an option.
He was a rather charming fellow - would take my hand to help me up, so princely 
- and did not push any additional services on us. (My mother was also in the accident and was injured more than I was; she was terribly bruised from the seatbelt.)
I’ve been thinking about chiropractors lately, what with my current back problems, but I’m on Medicare so I don’t think they’re covered.
As a matter of fact…
http://www.medicare.com/services-and-procedures/therapies/chiropractic-services.html
Considering the great deal of overlap between the anti-“woo” crowd and tax-and-spend liberals, I hope this serves to drive the point home that, when the government gets into the business of handing out money, scientific worthiness usually is an afterthought.
All I know is that while I was pregnant with my second child I had horrible lower back pain. I went to my doctor who looked at me like I was a petulant child for even daring to complain about it.
I was in constant pain and it was really affecting every aspect of my life. Then a friend recommended a Chiropractor to me. A week after starting, I was virtually pain free. One appointment week for the duration of the pregnancy and the pain never came back.
I remember when woo used to mean ‘to be nice to somebody to try to get her to be your girlfriend’. God, does this make me feel old!