Chiropractors, often considered alternative or complementary medicine practitioners, are primary care doctors who focus on good health through proper nutrition, exercise, and other lifestyle factors. The chiropractic philosophy is based on the idea that when nerves emerging from the spinal cord are compromised (known as a subluxation), the affected individual might experience pain, disability and an overall decrease in the quality of life.

A chiropractor uses a spinal adjustment or manipulation to try to restore normal nerve function, paving the way for the body to heal itself. Although back pain is the number one reason people give for visiting chiropractors, other musculoskeletal pain (neck and shoulder), a desire for improved athletic performance, and headaches are areas that have been shown, through evidence based research, to derive the most benefits from chiropractic intervention.

The education and training chiropractors receive is similar, in many ways to the course of study followed by allopathic doctors (M.D.) and osteopathic doctors (D.O.). A chiropractor may use massage, mobilization, heat, cold, traction, decompression, taping and rehabilitative exercises in addition to low-velocity or high-velocity manipulations or adjustments of the spine. Today, chiropractic is recognized by many established medical groups, including the World Health Organization and the National Institutes of Health.