AT YOUR OWN RISK

By a lucky accident, I stumbled upon one of the greatest books I have ever read. The book is “At Your Own Risk: The Case Against Chiropractic” by Ralph Lee Smith, who is some kind of genius. You can read it here.

I’m only halfway through it, and its forty years old, but the things you read in it are unbelievable. It is one astounding revelation after another about the origins of chiropractic, the drive to create a money making bonanza for its founders and “students”, the complete disregard for human life and morals, the love of pseudoscience and “gadgets” that do nothing, and the inability of the government to stop them.

Out of curiosity, I visited the American Chiropractic Association’s website, to see if 50 plus years and a lot of scientific discovery had changed their mission, or at least whittled away some of the more ridiculous ideas they purport. I love these quotes from their website

Doctors of Chiropractic are physicians who consider man as an integrated being

"Chiropractic is a drug-free, non-surgical science and, as such, does
not include pharmaceuticals* or incisive surgery.

With regard to the core chiropractic principle, which holds that
the relationship between structure and function in the human body is
a significant health factor and that such relationships between
the spinal column and the nervous system are highly significant
because the normal transmission and expression of nerve energy are
essential to the restoration and maintenance of health.

For those who don’t know, these guys used to state that they could cure every disease by manipulating out the “subluxations” of the spine. Of course there is no reason scientifically why this should be the case, but whatever.

I dispute that they are physicians of ANYTHING! And of course it’s drug free. Drugs would WORK and their treatments DON’T! And of course the nervous system is “highly significant”. It just isn’t the reason you had a coronary event or pneumonia or meningitis or gallstones or leukemia. And what is an “integrated being”? Is that like Dr. Manhattan from Watchmen?

Chiropractors are, at best, glorified massage therapists, and at worst, greedy fortune hunters with a license. My dream is that one day, all their “schools” will be closed and they’ll all have to get real jobs.