The Australian Chiropractors Association has just demonstrated their embarrassing incompetence

In response to criticism voiced against Australian chiropractors’ decision to re-commence manipulating children, the Australian Chiropractors Association (ACA) president, David Cahill, welcomed the updated statement on paediatric care by the Chiropractic Board of Australia. “The statement serves to reinforce the confidence the Australian public has in chiropractic care provided by registered ACA member chiropractors,” said Cahill.

The Safer Care Victoria Review has shown chiropractic care for children to be extremely safe. Of the 29,599 online submissions received from across Australia (the largest survey of its kind), there were no reports of harm to a child receiving chiropractic healthcare. Of those submissions, 21,824 responses were from parents who had accessed chiropractic healthcare for their children, and there was not a single report of significant harm in these submissions. “In a particularly strong endorsement, 99.6% of those parental submissions affirmed that chiropractic healthcare benefitted their child highlighting the exemplary safety record of chiropractic healthcare,” Cahill said.

ACA member chiropractors are healthcare professionals who effectively treat a wide range of musculoskeletal disorders. Chiropractors are 5-year university degree educated healthcare professionals, equipped with expertise enabling them to tailor the appropriate care for people of all ages including children. Established in 1938, the Australian Chiropractors Association (ACA) is the peak body representing chiropractors. The ACA promotes the importance of maintaining spinal health to improve musculoskeletal health through non-invasive, drug-free spinal health and lifestyle advice to help Australians of all ages lead and maintain healthy lives.

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Mr Cahill and the Australian Chiropractors Association have thus demonstrated that they fail to understand how one needs to establish the benefits and harms of a therapy. That chiropractic spinal manipulations are “extremely safe” cannot be established by an online survey which might or might not have been manipulated by the chiropractors who have an interest in not loosing the lucrative option of treating children. It cannot even establish “the confidence the Australian public has in chiropractic care”.

Mr Cahill and the Australian Chiropractors Association should know that chiropractic spinal manipulation – just like any other intervention – must be evaluated according to accepted principles of risk-benefit analyses. No proven benefit and a possibility of harm mean that the risk-benefit balance fails to be positive. And this means that it is irresponsible to use chiropractic spinal manipulations.

Mr Cahill and the Australian Chiropractors Association, however, seem to not know even the essentials of ethical healthcare. The obvious conclusion, therefore, is to send the lot of them back to school.