Few chiropractors today still adhere to the notion of a mystical energy such as innate intelligence as the source of disease or the focus of chiropractic treatment. However, there is a split in the field with respect to the subluxation concept.3,4 Most chiropractors still view subluxation, or the vertebral subluxation complex (VSC), as a real entity causing illness and that can be corrected by chiropractic manipulation. These practitioners also sometimes reject modern scientific explanations of illness, such as germ theory, and may recommend their patients avoid accepted medical interventions, such as pharmaceuticals or vaccination.5–7
A minority of chiropractors have rejected the subluxation idea and have tried to find alternative rationales for how spinal manipulation might treat disease. This group tends to be less inclined to reject science-based medical theory and practice generally. However, they have not had great success in influencing the chiropractic profession as a whole, which still tends to focus primarily on the VSC as both the cause of most disorders and the target of chiropractic therapy.4,8
For the most part, the principles and practices of animal chiropractic are extrapolated and adapted from those applied to humans, despite the obvious anatomic differences between bipedal humans and our four-legged veterinary patients. As in human chiropractic, the core concept behind chiropractic for animals is the VSC. For example, the American Veterinary Chiropractic Association (AVCA) criteria for certification include familiarity with "the anatomical, biomechanical and physiological consequences of the vertebral subluxation complex."9 The British Veterinary Chiropractic Association (BVCA) also identifies the VSC as central to chiropractic treatment of animals.10 Veterinary journal articles about chiropractic often emphasize subluxation "is at the core of chiropractic theory, and its detection and correction are central to chiropractic practice."11
