Roughly 11 percent of American adults saw a chiropractor in 2022, mainly for pain management. Chiropractic care is offered by many of the nation’s leading health systems. …
Still, the profession hasn’t entirely shed its anti-establishment roots, or fully shaken off its reputation for straying from the science. Some chiropractors promise near-miraculous results for diseases with treatments that aren’t backed by evidence. Others sell expensive supplements with unproven benefits.
Chiropractors advertise their services for a wide range of conditions: back pain, arthritis, diabetes, asthma and ear infections. But what the research says chiropractors are effective at treating is doesn’t necessarily match up.
There’s robust evidence that shows chiropractic adjustments can be mildly to moderately effective at managing lower back pain …
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Timothy Caulfield, who studies health misinformation at the University of Alberta, argued that the potential for physical harm from chiropractic care is not the only factor to consider. He pointed to vocal anti-vaccine sentiment among some chiropractors, which he said could help fuel distrust in the medical establishment.
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“There are other, kind of broader, social harms,” he said.
