11/01/2025
The claim that “chiropractic care is not effective” has been made repeatedly over the last century, but it’s not always based purely on data — it’s tied to emotional, economonic, political, and philosophical differences about what “effective” means, how evidence is judged, and how chiropractic care fits into the medical system.
Let’s unpack this clearly and objectively:
⚕️ 1. Historical context: medicine vs. chiropractic
Chiropractic began in 1895 with D.D. Palmer’s idea that spinal misalignments (“subluxations”) could disrupt nervous system flow and affect overall health.
At the time, medicine had little scientific grounding — it was before antibiotics, vaccines, or modern diagnostic imaging.
But as medicine evolved into a science-based field (especially after 1910’s Flexner Report), it began to emphasize laboratory proof and biomedical explanations.
Chiropractic, meanwhile, stayed rooted in a 🌱vitalistic, holistic model — emphasizing the body’s self-healing ability and the spine’s role in health.
Medicine saw chiropractic’s early claims as unscientific and unproven, especially the idea that adjusting the spine could affect organs (especially the brain), immunity, or disease.
⚖️ 2. Scientific skepticism — evidence and mechanism
Medical institutions would often state that chiropractic care was “not effective” because of:
Inconsistent evidence and Quality of studies:
Many early chiropractic studies were small, lacked randomization, or had methodological flaws, giving critics grounds to question their validity.
✨So, the chiropractic profession went to work! They published hundreds of studies PROVING the effectiveness in the care they provided and they did this with the highest proof literature: randomized, controlled trials (RCT’s) and systematic reviews.
🧠 3. Professional turf and economics
Beyond science, there was a strong political and 💲 financial motive 💲to quiet the chiropractic profession.
In the mid-1900s, the American Medical Association (AMA) labeled chiropractic an “unscientific cult.” 😳
The AMA’s “Committee on Quackery” (1960s–80s) actively tried to eliminate chiropractic through public relations campaigns, medical education, and insurance exclusion.
In 1987, a U.S. federal court (the Wilk v. AMA case) ruled that the AMA unlawfully conspired to destroy chiropractic competition.
So, the “ineffective” narrative was reinforced not just by evidence gaps — but by institutional bias and competition over control of musculoskeletal care and healthcare dollars.
📚 4. What modern evidence actually shows
Recent decades have changed the landscape:
Systematic reviews consistently show spinal manipulation (the main chiropractic intervention) is effective for acute and chronic low back pain and neck pain!
Evidence also supports benefits for headaches, joint mobility, and improved function (aka: neuroplasticity).
So, the evidence supports chiropractic! It ALWAYS HAS. The proof is in the data! ▶️ In the world of healthcare, data is the driving factor (or it’s supposed to be)!
Chiropractic care isn’t going away, friends. We are here to stay and we won’t be silenced. The proof of the cost effectiveness for chiropractic care, effectiveness for spinal pain, headaches, etc. has been published and CONTINUES to prove itself.
Education is powerful, but education with action is how change occurs! ✌️
