In a 2015 Gallup poll of more than 5,400 Americans, 60 percent believed chiropractic is an effective treatment for neck and back pain. It’s true that chiropractors manipulate, or adjust, the spine to improve pain and mobility, but the benefits may extend beyond the back. By using varying degrees of force in an effort to adjust misaligned joints, chiropractors try to improve the relationship between the spine and nervous system, which they believe may affect the function of all the organs and systems in the body.
“We are certainly the front-line providers for back pain, but we’re also primary care professionals who look at and evaluate the whole body,” says Ron Boesch, DC, a professor and director of clinics at Palmer College of Chiropractic in Davenport, Iowa, which commissioned the Gallup poll.