Summary
Ross and Carrie from their investigative podcast tackle chiropractic in part one of a three-part series. Ross, dealing with increasing back pain in his early 40s, decides to visit multiple chiropractors to document the range of experiences. The hosts discuss the pseudoscientific origins of chiropractic while acknowledging that modern practitioners exist on a wide spectrum -- from evidence-based physical therapy-like care to those claiming to cure any disease through spinal adjustment. The episode provides context on the chiropractic industry: 77,000 practitioners in the US, a $12 billion per year business, and coverage by most insurance including Medicaid. They reference Simon Singh and Edzard Ernst's "Trick or Treatment" and a 2019 PsyCon talk examining chiropractic claims. Carrie shares her own past experience visiting chiropractors for headaches in her early 20s. The hosts note that B.J. Palmer (son of chiropractic's founder) openly advertised that back-cracking could cure any disease, and that some modern YouTube practitioners still make similar claims. They set up the investigation framework: visiting three different chiropractors to compare approaches, red flags, and outcomes.
Key Points
- There are 77,000 practicing chiropractors in the US, making it a $12 billion per year industry
- The origins of chiropractic are pseudoscientific, but modern practitioners range from evidence-based to fringe
- Most insurance including Medicaid covers chiropractic visits
- B.J. Palmer (son of the founder) advertised chiropractic as a cure for any disease -- some still make similar claims
- The hosts set up a three-part investigation visiting three different chiropractors for comparison
- Chiropractic is one of the most requested alternative medicine topics from their audience
- The word "chiropractic" comes from Greek "chiro" (hand), related to chiromancy (palm reading) and chirality
Key Moments
77,000 chiropractors in the US in a $12 billion industry
The hosts note that chiropractic is a massive industry with 77,000 practicing chiropractors in the US and $12 billion in annual revenue, with insurance and Medicaid coverage making it widely accessible.
"there are 77,000 practicing chiropractors in the US"
D.D. Palmer founded chiropractic in 1895 from magnetic healing beliefs
Chiropractic was created by D.D. Palmer in 1895, emerging from his belief in magnetic hands and healing. The concept maps everything to the spine, similar to how reflexology maps to feet or iridology to the eye.
"chiropractic was originally created by this guy named D.D. Palmer, Daniel David Palmer, in 1895"
Subluxation and innate intelligence — the spiritual roots of chiropractic
The original concept of subluxation involves a quasi-spiritual idea of innate intelligence — a divine communication from brain to body that gets blocked by spinal misalignments. How seriously a chiropractor takes subluxations is a key indicator of their approach.
"And that when things are out of alignment, when you have subluxations, those are impeding on that natural flow of innate intelligence. So subluxation is a word that you won't hear outside of chiropractic. Right. That means energy blockage. Yeah, pretty much. And we'll definitely bring this up with each chiropractor that we see. And their kind of chosen synonym for subluxation now is just, oh, it's just misalignments. Well, yeah. And it does feel like there's, yeah, there's a spiritual version of this and there's a sort of non-spiritual version. Therein lies the wiggle room. How seriously do you take subluxations?"
Neck manipulation risks — from scary to potentially deadly
The hosts discuss the risks of cervical manipulation, noting that sudden neck movements can be dangerous and even deadly for patients with preexisting conditions, making it one of the most controversial aspects of chiropractic care.
"I would just want to know whether they want to manipulate my neck. I would be out of there. Okay, so that's another big thing with chiropractic is neck manipulations yeah so they'll do sudden scary sudden quick movements to your neck yeah and other parts of your spinal column but like whip your neck to one side yeah snap it crack it you know it's unexpectedly sometimes it's scary it's so scary you guys i had it done years ago and i was like never again and then i looked it up and realized, oh, it can be dangerous. How could this ever be worth it? Even deadly if you have like a preexisting condition, bleeding in the neck. A rod in your back. Yeah. And for a long time, whenever we talk about seeing a chiropractor, Carrie would be like, I'm good."
