Chiropractic treatment for a variety of neuro-musculoskeletal conditions is gaining wider acceptance among the medical profession. Because students of chiropractic spend significantly more time studying the spine than do medical students, many medical doctors recognize the value of chiropractors as the appropriate source for diagnosis of and first line of treatment for functional disorders of the entire musculoskeletal system.
- Paul G. Shekelle, M.D., MPH, of the RAND Corporation made the following statement on ABC's 20/20, "There are considerably more randomized controlled trials which show benefit of this (chiropractic) than there are for many, many other things which physicians and neurosurgeons do all the time."
- "M.D.s now categorize chiropractic manipulation with the highest rating: "Generally well- established and widely used." Spine, 1991. North American Spine Society.
- "A majority of family physicians (in Washington) admitted having encouraged patients to see a chiropractor, and two-thirds indicated a desire to learn more about what chiropractors do." The Journal of Family Practice, 1992. "Family Physicians and Chiropractors: What's Best for the Patient?"
- "Our trial showed that chiropractic is a very effective treatment, more effective than conventional hospital outpatient treatment for low-back pain ... particularly in patients who have severe problems." T.W.Meade, M.D.
- "The only difference that I can see is that the patients at John F. Kennedy get chiropractic manipulations. And in my experience, the patients at J.F.K. almost without fail get out of the hospital in a week. At Lutheran, it usually takes, oh, not uncommonly, 14 days." Per Frietag, M.D., an orthopedic surgeon, on why he prefers to admit his patients with back pain to John F. Kennedy Hospital, which has staff chiropractors, rather than Lutheran General, which does not have staff chiropractors.
- "Manipulative medicine is no longer a taboo topic." Norton Hadler, M.D., self-described "cantankerous doctor who would have never dealt with manipulation in the past," professor of Rheumatology, University of North Carolina Medical School at Chapel Hill, Time Magazine, 1991.
- "Ten years ago if you practiced manipulation . . . you couldn't get published and were never invited to meetings. Now I can't keep up with the invitations." Neurologist Scott Haldeman. M.D., D.C. New York Times. 1991.