Every profession has a characteristic way of going wrong, and chiropractic's is overclaiming. The idea that adjusting a spine can treat asthma, allergies, ear infections, colic, digestion, blood pressure, fertility or immunity has been circulating for a very long time. It is not supported by good evidence, and it does real harm — not mainly because the treatment is dangerous, but because somebody with a treatable illness spends months and money in the wrong building.
So we are going to be specific rather than vague. Below is the list of what we will not treat you for. If you book with one of those as your reason, we will tell you at the first appointment — before you have paid for a course of anything — and point you at your doctor.
This is not modesty. Musculoskeletal problems are a large, common and genuinely treatable category, and being straight about where the edge is makes the rest of what we say worth believing.
What we will not treat
Every one of these is a condition chiropractic is commonly claimed to help with. We do not claim it, and we will not take the booking.
- Asthma and other lung disease
- Allergies and hay fever
- Ear infections
- Infant colic and reflux
- Digestive and bowel disease
- High blood pressure and heart disease
- Infertility
- Immune function and “boosting immunity”
- Diabetes and thyroid disease
- ADHD, autism and developmental conditions
- Cancer of any kind
- Infection of any kind
What chiropractic does not treat. We treat musculoskeletal problems: the spine, the joints, the muscles and the nerves that are irritated by them. We do not claim that adjusting a spine treats asthma, allergies, ear infections, colic, digestive disease, high blood pressure, infertility, immune function or any other internal illness. Chiropractors who make those claims are making them without good evidence, and you should be wary of anybody who does. If somebody has told you that spinal care will fix a condition on that list, we will tell you honestly that it will not.
What we do treat
The musculoskeletal system: joints, muscles, and the nerves irritated by them.
Spinal pain
Lower back, mid-back and neck pain, whether it came on suddenly or built up over years. This is the bulk of what we see and it is where the evidence for manual therapy is strongest. It includes the stiff, guarded, locked-up back that frightens people and usually settles well.
Nerve irritation from the spine
Sciatica and other referred pain, where a nerve root is irritated by a disc or by narrowing. We treat the mechanical part, monitor the neurological part at every visit, and refer promptly when weakness is progressing rather than treating hopefully.
Joints away from the spine
Shoulders, hips, knees, elbows, wrists and feet. Much of this is rehabilitation rather than manipulation — assessing what a tissue can currently tolerate and building that up progressively — and it is some of the most reliably effective work we do.
Headaches that come from the neck
Cervicogenic and tension-type headache respond to treating the neck. Migraine does not, and we do not claim to treat it — though we may still help with a stiff neck coexisting with it. The first appointment is largely about telling those apart.
Warning signs in any clinic, including this one
If you are choosing between chiropractors, these are the things worth noticing. They apply to us exactly as much as to anybody else.
- A treatment plan of thirty or more visits, priced and signed before any treatment has happened.
- A large discount for paying upfront — that is a reason to keep coming that has nothing to do with you.
- Routine x-rays of everybody, before any examination has suggested a reason for them.
- Claims to treat anything on the list above, particularly in babies and children.
- Supplements, orthotics or pillows sold in reception by the person who just recommended them.
- Being told you will need care indefinitely to stay well, at your first appointment.
- Reluctance to discuss risks, or a suggestion that asking about them means you lack faith in the treatment.
- No review date, and no answer when you ask how you will both know whether it worked.
We do not claim anyone else's approval. Chiropractic is a licensed health profession in New York State, and every chiropractor is registered with the State before they may practise. What we will not do is decorate this website with the name of a board, a college or an association as though somebody else vouches for us — nobody outside this clinic has reviewed it. So instead of showing you a badge, these pages tell you plainly who will see you, what they will do, what they will not do, what it costs, and what the risks are. Ask us about any of it before you book.
Questions
Scope of care — the questions we are asked most
Why will you not treat my child's ear infections?
Because there is no good evidence that adjusting a spine affects them, and an ear infection is a medical problem with medical management. Taking that booking would mean charging you for something that will not work while your child's actual problem goes unaddressed. If another clinic has offered this, that tells you something about how it handles evidence generally.
I have been told chiropractic boosts the immune system. Is that true?
No. There is no good evidence that spinal treatment affects immune function, and we will not claim otherwise. This claim tends to appear at the times of year when people are most worried about getting ill, which is worth noticing. If you want to reduce how often you get ill, your doctor is a better conversation than we are.
Can chiropractic lower blood pressure?
We do not claim it can and we will not treat you for high blood pressure. It is a serious condition with effective, well-evidenced medical treatment, and substituting spinal care for that is a genuinely bad trade. Come to us for your back and see your doctor for your blood pressure; there is no conflict between the two.
What about digestive problems or reflux?
Not something we treat, in adults or in infants. The nerve-based reasoning offered for it sounds plausible and does not hold up, and digestive symptoms occasionally signal something that needs actual investigation. Your doctor first. If your back hurts as well, we are happy to treat the back.
Do you offer nutrition or supplement advice?
No, and we do not sell supplements. Clinics that retail supplements alongside treatment have an obvious conflict of interest, and it is one of the more reliable warning signs in this trade. General advice about staying active and sleeping properly is part of what we do; selling you products is not.
If chiropractic is limited to this, is it worth coming at all?
For musculoskeletal problems, yes — that is a large, common and genuinely treatable category, and it is what the evidence actually supports. A clinic that is honest about its boundaries is more useful to you, not less, because you can then trust what it does claim. Overclaiming is what makes the whole profession harder to believe.
Chiropractic care is not a substitute for medical diagnosis. Chiropractic care is not a substitute for medical diagnosis, and nothing on this website is medical advice for your particular problem. We are not physicians: we do not prescribe medication, we do not perform surgery, and we do not treat disease. What we do is examine how your spine and joints move, work on them by hand, and give you something to do between visits. If your problem turns out to be outside that, we say so and refer you — which happens often enough that you should expect it as a normal outcome rather than a failure.
A fee agreed before the visit, not after it
Book an appointment
Pick a chiropractor and an hour from the calendar — it shows only the times each of them genuinely has free. A first visit is a full hour and costs $95 for the examination on its own, or $145 if we treat you at the same appointment. You decide which after the examination, not before.