Chiropractic is a health care discipline and profession that emphasizes diagnosis, treatment and prevention of mechanical disorders of the musculoskeletal system, especially the spine, under the hypothesis that these disorders affect general health via the nervous system.[1] It is generally considered to be complementary and alternative medicine,[2] a characterization that many chiropractors reject.[3] The main treatment involves manual therapy including manipulation of the spine, other joints, and soft tissue; treatment also includes exercises and health and lifestyle counseling.[4] Traditional chiropractic assumes that a vertebral subluxation or spinal joint dysfunction interferes with the body's function and its innate intelligence,[5] a notion that brings ridicule from mainstream science and medicine.[6]
