When dealing with non-spine related organic diseases, chiropractic adjustment or vertebral subluxation may put the patient at risk because this is not a proven treatment for these diseases, adds Homola. The popping noise, or moving of nitrogen gases in the joints as Homola describes, can be misinterpreted by the patient as a joint moving into place, which tends to have a strong placebo effect on the patient. To show how the placebo effect is real and effects some people, Homola notes that patients of other chiropractors would call him when their doctors were out of town for "emergency adjustments," as they would call it. Homola suggests they are victims of the nocebo effect. Homola believes that spinal adjustments cannot be used alternatively to treat diseases other than back and neck problems.
It seems popular in chiropractic practice to find false reasoning to keep a client base or build one. A medical doctor expresses his opinions on the misinformation some chiropractors spew to obtain or continue to treat patients in "Don't Let Chiropractors Fool You." The author Stephen Barrett, a Medical Doctor, describes chiropractors as either "straights" or "mixers" according to how they treat patients, and believes that spinal manipulation does not cure non-skeletal diseases. Barrett notes that chiropractors have been accounting the recovery of low-back pain to spinal manipulation, which only helped ease the symptoms until spontaneous recovery occurred. Barrett concludes with a warning of the risks of some chiropractors. A survey from the American Heart Association concluded that neurologists have seen 55 cases where a stroke followed a neck manipulation and led to permanent brain dysfunction, exclaims Barrett.
Shining light on bad practice is necessary, even if it is directed towards fellow co-practicians. Another chiropractor exposes bad practices and greedy doctors in "Take It from a DC: A Lot of Chiropractic Is a Sham.
