There is a lot of junk science masquerading as medicine these days, as always. Many people make a great deal of money by peddling nonsense to a public which is often distrusting of the medical establishment. Some of the lead offenders against rational medicine are chiropractors and Kevin Trudeau. Both are widely accepted, both are quite popular, and both are complete bunk.

Chiropractors use a method of alternative medicine that purports to be able to cure physical ailments through spinal adjustment. They claim that most (if not all) diseases are caused by “subluxations,” which are essentially misalignments and compressions of the joints and nerves. In other words, if your liver fails, it’s because your L2 is slightly to the left of where it should be. Specific explanations of why this happens vary from practitioner to practitioner, but most believers claim that a misaligned nerve on the spine can transmit damage to the organ or tissue with which it is connected.

Notice that I refer to chiropractics as an “alternative medicine.” This is because even though one can obtain a D.C. (“doctor of chiropractic” degree) and receive licensing, and even though they wear pretty white coats and use extremely chilly metal instruments, they are neither true physicians nor scientists.

A physician and a scientist would ask to see studies and tests proving the efficacy of chiropractics. They would be hard-pressed to find any. This is perhaps not surprising