Chiropractic is a complementary and alternative medicine

Chiropractic is a complementary and alternative medicine^[1] health care profession concerned with the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of disorders of the neuromusculoskeletal system and the effects of these disorders on general health.^[2] Chiropractors emphasize manual and manipulative therapy for the treatment ofvertebral subluxations. Currently, chiropractors practice in over 100 countries in all regions of the world, however chiropractors are most prevalent in North America, Australiaand parts of Europe.^[2][3] Most people who seek chiropractic care do so for low back pain.^[4] Chiropractic was founded in 1895 by magnetic healer, D.D. Palmer, in Davenport, Iowa, United States. Chiropractic theory on spinal joint dysfunction and its putative role in non-musculoskeletal disease has been a source of controversy since its inception in 1895. The controversy is due in part to chiropractic's vitalistic and metaphysical origins, and use of terminology that is not always amenable to scientific investigation.^[5] Far reaching claims and lack of scientific evidence supporting spinal dysfunction/subluxation as the sole cause of disease has led to a critical evaluation of a central tenet of chiropractic and the appropriateness of the profession's role in treating a broad spectrum of disorders that are unrelated to the neuromusculoskeletal system.^[6] Although there is external and internal debate within the chiropractic profession regarding the clinical significance of joint dysfunction/subluxation,^[7] the manipulable lesion remains inextricably linked to the profession as basis for spinal manipulation.^[8] The scientific consensus is that chiropractic may be on a par with other manual therapies for some musculoskeletal conditions such as lower back pain, but that there is no credible evidence or mechanism for effects on other conditions, and some evidence of severe adverse effects from cervical vertebral manipulation.^[9] The ideas of innate intelligence and the chiropractic subluxation are regarded as pseudoscience.^[10]