Local Healers Directory

Chiropractic
is a health care approach and profession that emphasizes diagnosis,
treatment and prevention of mechanical disorders of the
musculoskeletal system, especially the spine, under the hypothesis
that these disorders affect general health via the nervous system.
It is generally considered to be complementary and alternative medicine, a characterization that many chiropractors reject. The main treatment
involves manual therapy including manipulation of the spine,
other joints, and soft tissue; treatment also includes exercises
and health and lifestyle counseling. Traditionally, chiropractic
assumes that avertebral subluxation or spinal joint
dysfunction interferes with the body's function and its
innate intelligence, a notion that brings ridicule from
mainstream science and medicine.
D.D. Palmer founded chiropractic in the 1890s and his son
B.J. Palmer helped to expand it in the early 20th century. It has
two main groups: "straights", now the minority, emphasize
vitalism, innate intelligence and spinal adjustments, and consider
subluxations to be the leading cause of all disease; "mixers"
are more open to mainstream and alternative medical techniques
such as exercise, massage, nutritional supplements, and acupuncture.
Chiropractic is well established in the U.S., Canada and Australia.
For most of its existence, chiropractic has battled with
mainstream medicine, sustained by ideas such as subluxation
that are not based on solid science.
Vaccination remains controversial among chiropractors. The
American Medical Association called chiropractic an
"unscientific cult" and boycotted it until losing a 1987
antitrust case. Chiropractic has had a strong political base
and sustained demand for services; in recent decades, it has gained more
legitimacy and greater acceptance among medical physicians and
health plans, and evidence-based medicine has been used to review
research studies and generate practice guidelines. Many studies of
treatments used by chiropractors have been conducted, with
conflicting results. Collectively, systematic reviews of this research have not demonstrated that spinal manipulation is effective, with the possible
exception of treatment of back pain. The efficacy and cost-effectiveness
of maintenance chiropractic care are unknown. Although spinal
manipulation can have serious complications in rare cases, chiropractic
care is generally safe when employed skillfully and appropriately.
Category:
Rehabilitation, Chiropractic & Stress Management