I Get Why You Are Asking
Let me just say it plainly. Some of them are.
Not most. Not even close to most. But enough that the skepticism floating around out there is completely earned and I am not going to sit here and pretend otherwise just to defend my profession.
You have probably had an experience or know someone who has. The chiropractor who sold a 40 visit prepaid plan at the first appointment before they even knew what was wrong. The one who had every single patient doing the exact same three exercises regardless of why they came in. The one who promised results that never materialized and kept finding reasons to extend the plan when they didn't.
Or maybe you have just been on the internet.
Let's Talk About Those Videos Because They Are Doing Real Damage
If your only exposure to chiropractic is what shows up on social media you have every right to be concerned.
The Y-strap videos. You know the ones. Patient lying on the table, strap goes around the head, and then someone yanks it like they are trying to start a lawnmower. Dramatic music. Slow motion replay of the person getting half pulled off the table. Millions of views.
Then the popping compilations. Forty five seconds of the loudest cracks you have ever heard set to sound effects, captioned something like "INSTANT RELIEF" in all caps.
These videos go viral because they look insane. And the problem is they make the entire profession look like a stunt show. I have had patients come in genuinely terrified because they thought that was what chiropractic was. Perfectly reasonable people who could have genuinely benefited from care but almost never came through the door because of something they saw on TikTok.
Those videos are not representative of thoughtful, safe, individualized care. They are content. There is a meaningful difference.
Here Is Where the Profession Actually Goes Wrong
The scam reputation does not come out of nowhere. It comes from some very specific patterns that have been real problems in chiropractic for a long time and I might as well name them.
The pre-sold package. You come in with neck pain and before you have even been properly evaluated someone is walking you through a care plan that costs three thousand dollars and spans six months. Maybe you need that. Maybe you need three visits. You do not know yet because nobody has actually figured out what is going on.
The one size fits all approach. Every patient gets the same adjustment in the same order on the same table. The 22 year old athlete and the 68 year old with osteoporosis and the hypermobile EDS patient who will leave in worse shape than she came in. Same protocol. Different bodies. Different results.
The unrealistic promises. Social media has created a culture of miracle claims and instant fixes that have nothing to do with how bodies actually recover. When the reality does not match the promise, trust disappears and it should.
The pressure to keep coming back with no clear endpoint. Good care has a plan. It has reassessment points. It has honest conversations about what is working and what is not. It has an end, or at least a clear transition to maintenance. When none of that exists, something is off.
So How Do You Tell the Good Ones From the Bad Ones
Honestly this is the part people actually need to know.
A provider worth trusting will listen before they do anything. Not a two minute intake where someone circles some body parts on a diagram. Actually listening to your full story, your history, what you have already tried, what made things worse, what helped even a little.
They will explain what they think is happening and why, in language that makes sense to you. Not jargon designed to make you feel like you need them. Plain language that helps you understand your own body better.
They will set realistic expectations. Not "I can fix this" but "here is what I expect to see in the first few visits and here is how we will know if this is the right approach for you."
They will tell you when you do not need them. I have referred patients to other providers, other specialties, even other chiropractic models that were a better fit for what someone needed. A provider who never refers out and never admits a limitation is someone to be skeptical of.
They will take your bad experiences seriously. If you come in and say "I tried chiropractic before and it set everything back," a good provider does not get defensive. They ask what happened, they take notes, and they build their approach around that information.
The Part I Want to Be Honest About With My Own Practice
I treat a lot of complex cases. EDS, hypermobility, chronic instability, cervical issues, athletes with layered injury patterns, auto accident patients whose symptoms are all over the place and do not fit neat categories.
These are not patients who do well with aggressive, high volume, one size fits all care. I have seen what happens when they get it and it is not good.
Everything we do is built around figuring out what each person's body can actually handle right now and working inside that window. FSM because it does not register as a threat to an already maxed out nervous system. Soft tissue work, shockwave, cold laser, chiropractic applied with actual thought behind it. Pacing that respects where someone is instead of where a protocol says they should be.
Is that approach right for everyone? No. Some people just need a straightforward adjustment and a few stretches and they are good. I will tell you that too.
But the patients who have been through the mill, who have tried things that made them worse, who are walking in skeptical and a little beaten down, those are the ones I built this practice for. And the first thing I owe them is honesty, not a sales pitch.
So Are Chiropractors Scam Artists?
Some are. Some in every profession are.
Most are not. Most got into this because they genuinely wanted to help people and they work hard at it.
The profession has real problems with overclaiming, overselling, and not individualizing care enough. Those problems are worth naming and worth fixing.
But when chiropractic is done right, with real listening, real evaluation, a thoughtful plan, and honest conversations about what is and is not working, it helps people in ways that matter. I have watched it happen too many times to believe otherwise.
You deserve to find that version of it.
If you have had bad experiences before and you are trying to figure out whether it is worth trying again, that is exactly the kind of conversation I want to have.
