I have to say that I’ve gotten more pushback from readers on chiropractic “medicine” than I expected, especially given that there’s no good scientific evidence for its efficacy. If it’s benefited you, ask yourself whether you might have gotten better without treatment (this often happens), or whether some more qualified or experienced person, such as a physical therapist or even a massage therapist, would be a better choice than these undereducated but greedy quacks, who often claim that many diverse illnesses can be cured by manipulating the spine (“subluxation”), and who often try to sell you expensive treatment programs (in advance!) or use useless diagnostic tools like X-rays. Chiropractors are not medical doctors, and no hospital will allow them through the doors—at least no hospital that I know.
I did, however, get some of what I expected: comments from new people vigorously defending chiropractic. There’s no convert quite so vocal as enthusiasts who see their pet woo attacked. Yesterday I got one comment from a chiropractor who, unfortunately, runs a school for gifted children. And just this morning three comments, all from new people who love chiropractic, wriggled into moderation. I present them below; none of these commenters be posting here again because I simply don’t want to get into arguments with the medical equivalent of flat-earthers.
The comments are below; the first was meant to be put after my post “ and the second two after “A benighted person defends chiropractors.” All spelling and grammar are preserved exactly as presented.
Ava Ronchetti [JAC: if you Google this name, you’ll come up with a chiropractor in Massachusetts]
You my friend, are as ignorant as you are uneducated. First of all, the comprehension of the human biology can be taught to a 3rd grader in the simplest of terms. THE NO SCIENTIFIC DATA bullshit is tiring at best, to explain to a dummy such as yourself…just ask thousands of non biased REALPERSONS, who have actually been to other allied health professionals and were helped. SCIENTIFIC evidence???? Is there SCIENTIFIC un altered data on the drugs that are addicting chronic pain sufferers by the millions. Doctors are taught to pass out drugs like they are candy..Cover up those symptoms your body is screaming at you to repair!! Medical and big Pharma to the rescue.They are killing us by the millions and youre here complaing about a Zoo helping a cub ti thrive by removing nerve interference so its little body can heal in its own..That my ignorant friend, is how Chiropractic works..take all your stuffy “lack of scientific data and sit down…way over there..in the nosebleed seats…
Yes, here’s a person who rejects scientific data for personal anecdotes (neglecting the fact that such anecdotes can be found for any form of quackery), and who makes the frequent claim that doctors are to blame for deaths. Well, yes, they are, sometimes, and do make errors, but they also do stuff like open-heart surgery and cancer treatment that carry substantial risks or constitutes palliative care. And they’re not wedded to quackery. I wonder if Ms. Ronchetti, if diagnosed with a severe infection like appendicitis, or a tumor on her brain, would abjure “Medical and Big Pharma.”
As for doctors killing people by addicting chronic pain sufferers, well, many doctors won’t prescribe the most addictive drugs, many patients don’t follow the regimen (is that the doctors’ fault?) and many peopole get the medication illegally. Should that really be blamed on “Medical and Big Pharma”?
It’s truly sad that the best these people can say about chiropractic is “some people claimed to have been helped” along with “but look! Medicine and Big Pharma kill people too!”. And their rejection of scientific testing of medical treatment brands them as charlatans, unwilling to accept the best way to actually get evidence for the usefulness of their methods.
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David Black
You really do need to do your research. There are nearly a million people who die at the hands of the medical profession every year. I have said many times that organized medicine would kill to have our safety record. Check it out. You might save a few lives.
David Black, Doctor of Chiropractic
Really? I’d save a few lives by referring everybody with a medical problem to a chiropractor? If you do that, pal, you’ll kill a lot more than a million people per year!
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James
Chiropractic is based on neurology. If you don’t understand neurology you won’t be able to vet what comes your way about others options noons. The fact that allopathic Medicine using allopathic model tries to explain a wholistic process is part of the critics problem not to mention he is most likely a paid advocate for strictly the politaical medical establishment. The fact that some of the talented medical practitioners are crossing over from allopathic medicine into the realm of Holistic Mediicine speaks loudly of how ahead the Holistic practices and the profession of chiropractic is ahead of allopathic medicine in terms of Functional Performance. Thier is plenty of science backing the efficacy & safety of the practice of healing & treating health conditions more effectively than procedural/ symptom medicine or with use of drugs. The fact is a balanced system OutPerforms. Chiropractic is about one thing, removing nonproductive Resistance and restoring structural balance. The rest takes care of itself with appropriate Stewardship of Lifestyle. It’s that simple.
I’m not aware of any practicing physicians who have given up real medicine for chiropractic medicine. Maybe there’s one or two, but you’d be an idiot to do that, not just because you’ll lose money, but because you’ll trade a helping profession for a greedy and ineffective profession. (Remember, chiropractors aren’t allowed into hospitals to practice.)
As for the rest of the letter, it’s pretty much gibberish, so you can understand why “James” has succumbed to the blandishments of woo.
