International Chiropractors Association

Comment and Opinion

International Chiropractors Association

The ICA Pediatric Council rose to the top of the swamp in 2001 when it awarded hero status to a man who beat a baby to death. You can read the saga here.

Rebellion in the ranks (16/5/2020)
You would expect a journal with the title Chiropractic & Manual Therapies to be reasonably sympathetic to the nonsense of chiropractic, but an article published on May 4, 2020 broke the mold. It had the title "A united statement of the global chiropractic research community against the pseudoscientific claim that chiropractic care boosts immunity" and was signed by 140 chiropractors and fellow travellers. It was a response to a claim by the International Chiropractors Association that spine twiddling could be a useful way to prevent infection, with special relevance to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. (The ICA leapt to prominence in 2001 when its Pediatric Council awarded hero status to a man who beat a baby to death.)

Here is the abstract of the article.

Abstract

Background: In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, the International Chiropractors Association (ICA) posted reports claiming that chiropractic care can impact the immune system. These claims clash with recommendations from the World Health Organization and World Federation of Chiropractic. We discuss the scientific validity of the claims made in these ICA reports.

Main body: We reviewed the two reports posted by the ICA on their website on March 20 and March 28, 2020. We explored the method used to develop the claim that chiropractic adjustments impact the immune system and discuss the scientific merit of that claim. We provide a response to the ICA reports and explain why this claim lacks scientific credibility and is dangerous to the public. More than 150 researchers from 11 countries reviewed and endorsed our response.

Conclusion: In their reports, the ICA provided no valid clinical scientific evidence that chiropractic care can impact the immune system. We call on regulatory authorities and professional leaders to take robust political and regulatory action against those claiming that chiropractic adjustments have a clinical impact on the immune system.

You can read the full paper here.