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Thematic series: What is chiropractic?

Edited by: Prof Jan Hartvigsen and Prof Simon French.

Chiropractic & Manual Therapies presents our latest thematic series: What is chiropractic?

Chiropractors practice in more than 100 countries in all parts of the world. In some countries chiropractors provide a substantial portion of care for patients with many health conditions, but most commonly for the care of people with low back and neck pain. The way the chiropractic profession is placed in different countries is dependent on historical and cultural differences, where in some countries the chiropractic profession is considered an independent, complementary and alternative medicine profession, to a position where the chiropractic profession is considered a fully integrated and mainstream healthcare profession. Thus the identity of chiropractors and the practice of chiropractic remains a matter of debate in many countries both within the chiropractic profession and outside of it. This thematic series of Chiropractic & Manual Therapies addresses the overarching question “What is chiropractic?”, and provides an overview of current state of the chiropractic profession from a global perspective.

Individual articles address fundamental issues about the chiropractic profession, including descriptions of: how the profession is placed in different countries and settings; the history of the profession in some countries; chiropractic education around the world; the profile of patients who seek chiropractic care; the type of care chiropractors provide; outcomes of chiropractic care; and other aspects of chiropractors, their practice, evidence base, and chiropractic care. 

  1. This commentary brings the 2017–2019 thematic series What is Chiropractic? to a close. The 18 papers published in the series contribute to a better understanding of what chiropractic is, where chiropractors pract...

    Authors: Jan Hartvigsen and Simon D. French
    Citation: Chiropractic & Manual Therapies 2020 28:4
  2. Maintenance Care is a traditional chiropractic approach, whereby patients continue treatment after optimum benefit is reached. A review conducted in 1996 concluded that evidence behind this therapeutic strateg...

    Authors: Iben Axén, Lise Hestbaek and Charlotte Leboeuf-Yde
    Citation: Chiropractic & Manual Therapies 2019 27:63

    The Correction to this article has been published in Chiropractic & Manual Therapies 2020 28:11

  3. The world is faced with a chronic shortage of health workers, and the World Health Organization (WHO) has estimated a global shortage of 7.2 million health workers resulting in large gaps in service provision ...

    Authors: Mette Jensen Stochkendahl, Mana Rezai, Paola Torres, Deborah Sutton, Peter Tuchin, Richard Brown and Pierre Côté
    Citation: Chiropractic & Manual Therapies 2019 27:36
  4. Musculoskeletal injuries are one of the most prevalent battle and non-battle related injuries in the active duty military. In some countries, chiropractic services are accessed to manage such injuries within a...

    Authors: Silvano Mior, Deborah Sutton, Carolina Cancelliere, Simon French, Anne Taylor-Vaisey and Pierre Côté
    Citation: Chiropractic & Manual Therapies 2019 27:45
  5. A crisis confronts the Complementary and Integrative Health (CIH) teaching institutions in the US. Research infrastructure is needed to build and sustain productive research programs and retain their own resea...

    Authors: Ian D. Coulter and Patricia M. Herman
    Citation: Chiropractic & Manual Therapies 2019 27:32
  6. The World Health Organization (WHO), in its “Rehabilitation 2030 A Call for Action”, identified the need to strengthen rehabilitation in health systems to meet the growing demands of current and future populat...

    Authors: Pierre Côté, Deborah Sutton, Richard Nicol, Richard Brown and Silvano Mior
    Citation: Chiropractic & Manual Therapies 2019 27:29
  7. The chiropractic profession both in the past and presently has diverse opinions concerning different health care approaches and the science or otherwise that underpins them. Previous research has reported that...

    Authors: Halldór Fannar Gíslason, Jari Kullervo Salminen, Linn Sandhaugen, Andreas Stenseth Storbråten, Renske Versloot, Inger Roug and Dave Newell
    Citation: Chiropractic & Manual Therapies 2019 27:16
  8. The chiropractic profession has a long history of internal conflict. Today, the division is between the ‘evidence-friendly’ faction that focuses on musculoskeletal problems based on a contemporary and evidence...

    Authors: Charlotte Leboeuf-Yde, Stanley I. Innes, Kenneth J. Young, Gregory Neil Kawchuk and Jan Hartvigsen
    Citation: Chiropractic & Manual Therapies 2019 27:4
  9. A close collaboration between surgeons and non-surgical spine experts is crucial for optimal care of low back pain (LBP) patients. The affiliation of a chiropractic teaching clinic to a university hospital wit...

    Authors: Brigitte Wirth, Fabienne Riner, Cynthia Peterson, Barry Kim Humphreys, Mazda Farshad, Susanne Becker and Petra Schweinhardt
    Citation: Chiropractic & Manual Therapies 2019 27:6
  10. Musculoskeletal pain is a major cause of work disability. Many patients with musculoskeletal pain seek care from health care providers other than their general practitioners, including a range of musculoskelet...

    Authors: Mette Jensen Stochkendahl, Casper Glissmann Nim, Eleanor Boyle, Ole Kristoffer Larsen, Iben Axén, Ole Christian Kvammen and Corrie Myburgh
    Citation: Chiropractic & Manual Therapies 2019 27:1
  11. The use of routine spinal X-rays within chiropractic has a contentious history. Elements of the profession advocate for the need for routine spinal X-rays to improve patient management, whereas other chiroprac...

    Authors: Hazel J Jenkins, Aron S Downie, Craig S Moore and Simon D French
    Citation: Chiropractic & Manual Therapies 2018 26:48
  12. Chiropractic programs are accredited and monitored by regional Councils on Chiropractic Education (CCE). The CCE-International has historically been a federation of regional CCEs charged with harmonising world...

    Authors: Stanley I. Innes, Charlotte Leboeuf-Yde and Bruce F. Walker
    Citation: Chiropractic & Manual Therapies 2018 26:25
  13. The subluxation construct generates debate within and outside the profession. The International Chiropractic Education Collaboration, comprised of 10 chiropractic programs outside of North America, stated they...

    Authors: Matthew F. Funk, Aric J. Frisina-Deyo, Timothy A. Mirtz and Stephen M. Perle
    Citation: Chiropractic & Manual Therapies 2018 26:24
  14. While chiropractors are integrating into multidisciplinary settings with increasing frequency, the perceptions of medical providers and patients toward adding chiropractors to existing healthcare teams is not ...

    Authors: Stacie A. Salsbury, Robert D. Vining, Donna Gosselin and Christine M. Goertz
    Citation: Chiropractic & Manual Therapies 2018 26:29
  15. Despite extensive publication of clinical guidelines on how to manage musculoskeletal pain and back pain in particular, these efforts have not significantly translated into decreases in work disability due to ...

    Authors: Mette Jensen Stochkendahl, Ole Kristoffer Larsen, Casper Glissmann Nim, Iben Axén, Julia Haraldsson, Ole Christian Kvammen and Corrie Myburgh
    Citation: Chiropractic & Manual Therapies 2018 26:15
  16. Little is known about the physical and psychosocial work environment of chiropractors and their work-related health complaints, and this has never been described for Danish chiropractors. The aim of this study...

    Authors: Mille Charlotte Hansen, Tine Aagaard, Henrik Wulff Christensen and Jan Hartvigsen
    Citation: Chiropractic & Manual Therapies 2018 26:4
  17. In an evidence-based health care environment, healthcare professions require a sustainable research culture to remain relevant. At present however, there is not a mature research culture across the chiropracti...

    Authors: Jon Adams, Greg Kawchuk, Alexander Breen, Diana De Carvalho, Andreas Eklund, Matthew Fernandez, Martha Funabashi, Michelle M. Holmes, Melker S. Johansson, Katie de Luca, Craig Moore, Isabelle Pagé, Katherine A. Pohlman, Michael S. Swain, Arnold Y. L. Wong and Jan Hartvigsen
    Citation: Chiropractic & Manual Therapies 2018 26:5
  18. Previous research has investigated utilization rates, who sees chiropractors, for what reasons, and the type of care that chiropractors provide. However, these studies have not been comprehensively synthesized...

    Authors: Peter J. H. Beliveau, Jessica J. Wong, Deborah A. Sutton, Nir Ben Simon, André E. Bussières, Silvano A. Mior and Simon D. French
    Citation: Chiropractic & Manual Therapies 2017 25:35
  19. While in some jurisdictions chiropractic is fully integrated in public and insurance funded health care systems, in others it is outside and considered as complementary or alternative health care. There is a p...

    Authors: Jan Hartvigsen and Simon French
    Citation: Chiropractic & Manual Therapies 2017 25:30