Chiropractic emphasizes the maintenance of health and the prevention of illness, thereby delaying or totally avoiding the type of invasive intervention for which modern medicine has developed such a great capacity and willing reputation. This commitment to utilize the inherent recuperative powers of the body as the first line of defense against disease distinguishes chiropractic from osteopathy as well. The doctor of chiropractic focuses not on the symptoms of disease, but on the cause, thereby seeking long- term, if not permanent, improvements for the patient. Neither does chiropractic science hold that subluxation is the only cause of disease. Through the adjustment of misalignments and subluxations, whether slight or severe, of the skeletal frame, particularly the spine, the D.C. endeavors to restore normal nerve expression.
Chiropractic care has a narrow scope of practice with broad body implications.
Of primary concern to chiropractic are abnormalities of structure or function of the vertebral column known clinically as the vertebral subluxation complex. The subluxation complex includes any alteration of the biomechanical and physiological dynamics of contiguous spinal structures which can cause neuronal disturbances. The D.C. also utilizes judgment and skills developed through a comprehensive professional education which is provided in institutions accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of the Council on Chiropractic Education as well as by regional accrediting agencies. All of these accrediting bodies are recognized by the United States Department of Education. The doctor of chiropractic is educated in the basic clinical and chiropractic sciences, in other health-related subjects, and in appropriate physical, clinical, laboratory and radiological investigative procedures.