Quackery in Chiropractic

A letter to the editor (1991), that's right to the point, from the foremost chiropractic historian. Little has changed since then.:

Quackery in Chiropractic

Dear Editor:

The recent editorial suggestion (Dynamic Chiropractic, January 18, 1991, p. 22) that American Chiropractic Association (ACA) President Charles F. Downing, D.C.'s letter to "Dear Abby" has "picked clean the last vestiges of doubt about chiropractic and 'quackery'" is absurd. The so-called "quackery myth about chiropractic" is no myth.(*) If anyone doubts the continuity of quackery in the profession, he has only to turn to pages 31 and 35 of the same issue of Dynamic Chiropractic.
(*) emphasis - PL

(snip)

It escapes me entirely how Dr. Downing, the ACA, MPI, and Dynamic Chiropractic can suggest that there is no quackery in chiropractic. Either these groups and individuals do not read the chiropractic literature or have no crap-detectors. I urge a reconsideration of advertising and promotion policies in chiropractic.

References

1.. Jarvis, W. "What Constitutes Quackery?" NCAHF Newsletter 1989, July/August: 4-5.

2.. Pepper Committee. "Quackery: a $10 billion Scandal" U.S. House of Representatives, Comm. Pub. 1984; No. 98-435.

3.. Keating, J.C. "Making Claims." Journal of Manipulative & Physiological Therapeutics (JMPT) April 1988; 11(2):75-7.

4.. Keating, J.C. "Traditional Barriers to Standards of Knowledge Production in Chiropractic. Chiropractic Technique September 1990; 2(3): 78-85.

Joseph C. Keating Jr., Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Palmer College of Chiropractic/West
Sunnyvale, California
http://www.chiroweb.com/archives/09/04/35.html


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My comments:

Dynamic Chiropractic is the most read journal in the chiropractic business. I can rarely find a single page that doesn't contain some kind of inappropriate advertising:

get rich quick practice building schemes
quack methods
quack products
anti-medical or anti-science ideas