Spin Doctors. The Chiropractic Industry Under Examination

I do not think chiropractors will like this book, neither do I assume that the authors expect that to happen. It amounts to the most biting criticism of chiropractic theory, practice and politics that I have ever come across. The book has its emphasis on North American, particularly Canadian chiropractic. It is not a scientifically argued book – after all, the two authors are journalists. After stating their views in detail and supporting them with much, but perhaps selected evidence, they conclude that ‘chiropractic has no future, just a past it can’t escape. Its survival into the twenty-first century is remarkable, but it has nothing to do with its importance as a health care profession’. The basis of chiropractic, they claim, is ‘a jumble of lies, misconceptions, and delusions’. Strong words indeed, and much in this book, it seems to me, suffers from the very ‘spin’ the authors accuse the ‘spin doctors’ of. I had fun reading this book at a time when much of what we read by the way of critical analysis is stifled by political correctness; not much of that in this damning account of chiropractic!