The Internet Has Opinions About Chiropractic. So Do I.

What the Anti-Chiropractic Internet Gets Wrong

I stumbled down a rabbit hole on Threads today. A young chiropractor stated that she loved Threads and thought she had finally found her people, but questioned why everyone was so anti-chiropractic. By the time I saw the post, there were already 415 comments full of people who were absolutely convinced that chiropractors are, at best, glorified placebo dispensers and, at worst, actively dangerous. An MD chimed in saying they hate chiropractors because “patients waste time and money on you before coming to me, then I send them to PT and they get better. The evidence for long-term benefit from PT actually exists.” She even threw out the term “scientific illiteracy.” Her comment had over 1,000 likes at the time I saw it.

And then there was this one. Posted without much hesitation by someone who I'm sure felt very confident typing it (especially since they don’t even have a profile pic):

"Disrespectfully, it's based on pseudoscientific bullshit. Subluxation isn't real. Your entire profession is snake oil. I'm sure you're a cool person. However, at best you're a poorly trained PT and at worst you're a snake oil salesman. People are actively harmed by your profession."

I sat with that one for a minute.

I've spent my career listening carefully, examining thoroughly, and treating people who came to me having exhausted other options. I've watched patients leave my office able to move, sleep, and live in ways they weren't sure were possible anymore. Reading something like that isn't just frustrating... it's genuinely painful, in the way that only comes when someone dismisses something you've dedicated your life to without a second thought.

I closed the tab. Made some tea. And then I sat down to write this, because the frustration I felt wasn't defensiveness... it was the particular sting of knowing that people are out there suffering, and a misunderstanding is standing between them and something that might actually help.

A Bias That Was Literally Taught in Medical School

Before we go any further, it's worth understanding where a lot of this animosity actually comes from, because it didn't appear out of nowhere.

In 1987, a federal court ruled that the American Medical Association had engaged in an illegal conspiracy to destroy the chiropractic profession. The case, brought by Chester Wilk, DC and several colleagues, found that the AMA had spent decades actively working to contain and eliminate chiropractic through a systematic campaign of disinformation. For years, medical students were taught that chiropractors were dangerous and unscientific. Physicians were discouraged, and in some cases formally prohibited, from associating with or referring to chiropractors at all.

The AMA lost. They appealed, and lost again in 1990… but you can't undo decades of institutional bias overnight. Physicians who trained during that era carried those beliefs into their practices. Some passed them to the next generation of students. The distrust that shows up in today's comment sections isn't just internet noise... it has a documented origin, and understanding that context matters.

The PT vs. Chiropractic Turf War Nobody Talks About

There's a similar, quieter tension that exists between chiropractic and physical therapy, and it has played out in courtrooms across the country for decades. The core of the dispute is scope of practice: who is legally allowed to do what.

Here's what often gets lost in that debate... both chiropractors and physical therapists can perform spinal manipulation. Both can prescribe corrective exercise. The difference isn't always what each profession is capable of doing... it's what individual practitioners within each profession choose to do. Some PTs manipulate. Many don't. Some chiropractors integrate extensive corrective exercise and rehabilitation. Many focus primarily on adjustments. The scope exists. The application varies widely.

So when a patient is referred to PT and responds well, that's genuinely wonderful. And it doesn't tell us much about what would have happened had they tried a chiropractor who also does thorough soft tissue work, corrective exercise, and rehabilitation... which, in many cases, looks a lot like what a good PT does, approached from a different clinical philosophy.

Not All Chiropractors Are the Same. Not Even Close.

Chiropractors are not a monolith. If you put 50 chiropractors in a room with the same patient, you'd get 50 different approaches to that person's complaint. Some of those approaches would resonate with that patient's body. Some wouldn't. That's not a condemnation of chiropractic... that's just how individualized, hands-on healthcare works.

A clinic that sees 10 patients a day is going to offer a fundamentally different experience than one that sees 100+. And that's not necessarily a criticism of high-volume practices... some patients genuinely love a quick five-minute appointment. It fits their schedule, it works for their body, and they leave happy. That's a win. But if that hasn't been your experience, it might be worth seeking out a clinic with longer appointment times and more individualized care, rather than writing off chiropractic altogether.

At Ochs Chiropractic, no two appointments are the same, because no two patients are the same. We use gentle adjustments, soft tissue work, nasal specific technique, intra-oral jaw treatment, craniosacral therapy, massage therapy, corrective exercise, and lifestyle modifications. We treat the whole patient, not just the symptom that walked through the door.

A Word About Surgery, and What I've Seen

I've never met a patient who walked away from back surgery happy with the outcome. Not once. And I could let that shape my opinion of surgeons, but I don't, because I understand what's actually happening: those patients tried surgery first, and when it didn't fully resolve their pain, they found their way to chiropractic.

Here's the thing... I refer patients to surgery when it's necessary. There are conditions that fall outside the scope of chiropractic, and when I encounter them, I say so clearly and send patients where they need to go. Not everything is a chiropractic problem, and pretending otherwise doesn't serve anyone.

But when patients arrive post-surgery, particularly those with spinal fusions or hardware, the work becomes considerably more complex. Altered biomechanics, scar tissue, and changes to the surrounding structures all present real challenges. We can still make meaningful progress, but it requires more time, more care, and realistic expectations on both sides.

The pattern I keep seeing isn't that surgeons are doing poor work... it's simply the order in which patients seek care. By the time someone lands in my office after a surgery that didn't go as hoped, they're often exhausted and frustrated. I just happen to be on the receiving end of that story. Surgeons, physicians, and physical therapists are out there every day doing excellent, genuinely life-changing work. Everyone has a place on Team Patient. I'm just one member of it.

The same logic applies in reverse. If a patient tries chiropractic, doesn't respond well, and then thrives with physical therapy... that's a great outcome. It doesn't mean chiropractic failed. It means we found what worked for that patient. Go Team!

The Problem With Bandaids

A significant portion of our patients come in exhausted. Not just physically, but emotionally drained from years of being handed pain medication for a problem that is fundamentally musculoskeletal. They're not looking for another bandaid. They're looking for someone to actually address what's driving the problem.

One patient comes to mind. A man in his mid-thirties who had been experiencing two to three episodes of severe neck pain every year, each one bad enough to land him in the emergency room. After years of this cycle, and the quiet fear of being perceived as drug-seeking, he finally received a referral to chiropractic... even though his primary care physician didn't particularly believe in it.

He came in guarded. Understandably so.

We treated his neck complaint over six visits across three weeks. After just the second visit, his pain was completely gone. I looked further down the kinetic chain and discovered he had limited mobility in his pelvis. We started treating that in addition to his neck. He continued coming in monthly for tune-ups over the next few years. He never had another flare-up.

That's not a miracle. That's a nervous system that finally got the reset it needed.

This is the philosophy at the core of what we do: your body has an innate ability to heal itself. Chiropractic and massage are tools to help reduce interference and create the conditions your body needs to do what it already knows how to do. We're not overriding your biology... we're working with it.

Thousands of patients have walked through our doors having "tried everything." Many of them are now doing things they were told they'd never do again.

On the Science, and Why It's Complicated

The "pseudoscientific bullshit" comment deserves a mention here…

Chiropractic is genuinely difficult to study in the way that, say, a pharmaceutical drug is studied. Double-blind, placebo-controlled trials are the gold standard in research, but they present a nearly impossible design problem for hands-on care. You cannot make a chiropractor who doesn't know what they're doing. You cannot give a patient a "placebo adjustment" without the provider knowing. Every treatment is shaped by the individual clinician's training, technique, intuition, and experience... and every patient responds differently based on their own history, physiology, and presentation. The number of variables involved makes designing a clean, ethical, reproducible study extraordinarily challenging.

What we do have is an enormous body of anecdotal evidence. Decades of patients who came in hurting and left better. People who tried everything else first. People who were told to learn to live with it. That evidence matters, even when it doesn't fit neatly into a peer-reviewed journal.

And here's the part I feel most strongly about: if the outcomes weren't there, I couldn't ethically practice. I'm not in this to sell something. I'm in this because I have watched, repeatedly and consistently, what happens when the nervous system is given the right conditions to do its job. The results speak for themselves.

If You've Had a Bad Experience... Try Again

Not every chiropractor is going to be the right fit for you. If you saw one and it didn't click, that's okay. Find another one. Ask questions about their approach before you book. A good chiropractor will welcome those questions.

And if you've never tried chiropractic because of what you read in a comment section... or because a physician offhandedly dismissed it... consider that there may be some institutional history behind that opinion worth knowing about. Come in with your history, your skepticism, your questions. We'll do a thorough exam, talk through what we're seeing, and build something together that actually makes sense for your body.

So Here's My Opinion, Since You Asked

Chiropractic is not for everyone. Not every person is a candidate, and any chiropractor worth their license will tell you that clearly during a thorough intake exam rather than take your money and figure it out later. There are contraindications. There are cases that belong in a surgeon's hands or a specialist's office, and good chiropractors know the difference.

But for the right patient, with the right provider... chiropractic is a remarkably safe, effective, and often life-changing form of care. Not all chiropractors are created equal, just as not all physicians, surgeons, or physical therapists are created equal. The profession has its share of practitioners who over-promise, under-deliver, and give the rest of us a reputation problem. That's true of every field of medicine.

What I can tell you is what happens here. We listen. We examine. We build a plan that makes sense for your body and your life. We don't chase you into a treatment contract or tell you that you need to be here three times a week forever. We work toward getting you to a place where you need us less, not more.

The internet will keep having opinions. I'll keep showing up for my patients.

If you're curious whether chiropractic might be right for you, come find out. Schedule online at www.ochschiropractic.com.