Editing Chiropractic (section)

=== Straights (Vitalists) versus Mixers (Materialists)===
[[File:1914 advertisement for a Straight Chiropractic as opposed to Mixer Chiropractic.png|thumb|1914 advertisement for a Straight Chiropractic as opposed to a Mixer Chiropractic]]
By 1914,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/wausau-pilot-straight-chiropractic/168799829/|title=Straight Chiropractic |via= Newspapers.com |newspaper=Wausau Pilot |location=Wausau, Wisconsin |date=Jun 23, 1914 |page=5}}</ref> chiropractors had begun to divide into two groups:  "Straights", adherents of the Palmers' supernatural [[Vitalism|vitalist]] beliefs, and "Mixers" who sought to integrate Chiropractic into science-based mainstream medicine.<ref name="Folk"/>{{rp|172}}  
{| class="wikitable floatright" style="margin-left:0.4em;"
|+ Range of belief perspectives in chiropractic
! Perspective attribute
! colspan="2" | Potential belief endpoints
|-
| Scope of practice:
| align=right | narrow ("straight") ←||→ broad ("mixer")
|-
| Philosophic orientation:
| align=right | vitalistic ←||→ materialistic
|-
| Falsifiability:
| align=right | untestable<br/>Cannot be proven or disproven || testable<br/>Lends itself to scientific inquiry
|-
| colspan="3" style="text-align: center;" | ''Taken from Mootz & Phillips 1997''<ref name=Chiro-Beliefs />
|}

Originally, ''Straight'' chiropractors adhered to  pseudoscientific Vitalist ideas set forth by D.{{nbsp}}D. and B.{{nbsp}}J. Palmer, and even modern "straights" often retain metaphysical definitions and vitalistic qualities.<ref name=History-Primer /> Straight chiropractors believed that vertebral subluxation leads to interference with an "innate intelligence" exerted via the human nervous system and is a primary underlying risk factor for many diseases.<ref name=History-Primer /> Straights view the medical diagnosis of patient complaints, which they consider to be the "secondary effects" of subluxations, to be unnecessary for chiropractic treatment.<ref name=History-Primer /> Thus, straight chiropractors are concerned primarily with the detection and correction of vertebral subluxation via adjustment and do not "mix" other types of therapies into their practice style.<ref name=History-Primer /> Their philosophy and explanations were metaphysical in nature, and they preferred to use traditional chiropractic lexicon terminology such as "perform spinal analysis", "detect subluxation", "correct with adjustment".<ref name=Kaptchuk-Eisenberg /> They preferred to remain separate and distinct from mainstream health care.<ref name=Kaptchuk-Eisenberg /> Modernly, "Straights" are a minority among Chiropractors, though "they have been able to transform their status as purists and heirs of the lineage into influence dramatically out of proportion to their numbers."<ref name=Kaptchuk-Eisenberg />

''Mixers'', who make up the majority of chiropractors,  "mix" chiropractic with diagnostic and treatment approaches from mainstream medical and osteopathic practices.<ref name=Kaptchuk-Eisenberg /> Unlike straight chiropractors, mixers believe subluxation is just one of many causes of disease, and mixers are open to mainstream medicine.<ref name=Kaptchuk-Eisenberg/> Many mixers incorporate mainstream medical diagnostics and employ conventional medical treatments including techniques of [[physical therapy]] such as exercise, [[stretching]], [[massage]], [[ice pack]]s, [[electrical muscle stimulation]], [[therapeutic ultrasound]], and [[moist heat]].<ref name=Kaptchuk-Eisenberg /> But some mixers also use techniques from pseudoscientific alternative medicine, including unnecessary [[Dietary supplement|nutritional supplements]], [[acupuncture]], [[homeopathy]], [[Herbalism|herbal remedies]], and [[biofeedback]].<ref name=Kaptchuk-Eisenberg />  Author Holly Folk writes that "Few Mixer chiropractors use the term anymore. Today, one is more likely to hear this side described as 'holistic,' 'wellness-oriented,' or 'integrative' practitioners."<ref name="Folk">{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DnlVDgAAQBAJ|title=The Religion of Chiropractic: Populist Healing from the American Heartland|first=Holly|last=Folk|date=March 13, 2017|publisher=UNC Press Books|via=Google Books}}</ref>{{rp|114}}  Folk argues that "osteopathy underwent a 'Straight-Mixer' debate between traditional vitalists and a faction that embraced the new medical science".{{rp|172}}

Although mixers are the majority group, many of them retain belief in vertebral subluxation as shown in a 2003 survey of 1,100 North American chiropractors, which found that 88 percent wanted to retain the term "vertebral subluxation complex", and that when asked to estimate the percent of disorders of internal organs that subluxation significantly contributes to, the mean response was 62 percent.<ref name=McDonald /> A 2008 survey of 6,000 American chiropractors demonstrated that most chiropractors seem to believe that a subluxation-based clinical approach may be of limited utility for addressing [[visceral disorder]]s, and greatly favored non-subluxation-based clinical approaches for such conditions.<ref name=Smith-Carber /> The same survey showed that most chiropractors generally believed that the majority of their clinical approach for addressing musculoskeletal/biomechanical disorders such as back pain was based on subluxation.<ref name=Smith-Carber>{{cite journal|journal=Journal of Chiropractic Humanities|year=2008|volume=15|pages=19–26|title=Survey of US Chiropractor Attitudes and Behaviors about Subluxation|vauthors=Smith M, Carber LA|url=http://archive.journalchirohumanities.com/Vol%2015/JChiroprHumanit2008v15-19-26.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425234244/http://archive.journalchirohumanities.com/Vol%2015/JChiroprHumanit2008v15-19-26.pdf|archive-date=2012-04-25|doi=10.1016/s1556-3499(13)60166-7}}</ref> Chiropractors often offer conventional therapies such as physical therapy and lifestyle counseling, and it may for the lay person be difficult to distinguish the unscientific from the scientific.<ref name=Benedetti2002>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zHxockt9CWQC|title=Spin Doctors: The Chiropractic Industry Under Examination|last1=Benedetti|first1=Paul|last2=MacPhail|first2=Wayne|date=2002-01-01|publisher=Dundurn|isbn=978-1-55002-406-7|language=en|page=18}}</ref>