Chiropractors aren’t quacks

Re “Spine ‘docs’ have a ghostly origin,” Column, June 30

David Lazarus’ negative screed against the chiropractic profession demeans his role as consumer reporter. He attacks chiropractors based on one visit to one practitioner. He approaches the visit with misgivings, which gives him a negative bias from the start.

If Lazarus visited a medical doctor whose ministration failed to solve his problem, he would try another doctor until he found someone who could help, not throw out the entire profession.

In fact, chiropractors can sometimes help where doctors fail, and one should not reject either profession but use the right one for the problem. Remember that chiropractors do not open you up, causing infections and long recovery periods with surgeries that sometimes turn out to be unhelpful, especially where back pain is concerned. Lazarus does his readers a disservice if he keeps them away from a professional approach that might help them.

As far as the “doctor” title, many professionals use it, including psychologists, dentists, optometrists and college professors. Dina Cramer

Manhattan Beach

Lazarus’ piece on chiropractic founder D.D. Palmer was a good introduction to Palmer’s quackery.

Palmer also practiced “magnetic healing” and came up with the theory that 95% of all diseases are caused by spinal vertebra being out of line. Both ideas have been completely discredited by modern scientific medicine.

That some chiropractors actually claim to be able to treat diabetes and other non-musculoskeletal maladies would be laughable were it not so dangerous to the patients. We should all exercise caution and skepticism before seeing a chiropractor. James Underdown

Los Angeles The writer is executive director of the Center for Inquiry Los Angeles.