The Palmetto State Chiropractic Association (PSCA) maintains and upholds that the objective of the chiropractor is separate and distinct from other health care professionals and disciplines and that it is focused on the location, analysis, and correction of vertebral subluxations.
Chiropractic colleges, the federal government, and international, national, and state chiropractic associations define the unique, and non-duplicative role and responsibility of chiropractic as focusing particular attention on the vertebral subluxation and its resultant neurological interference.
The use of vertebral subluxation as a rationale for care is supported by protocols that are safe, efficacious, and valid. The literature is sufficiently supportive of the usefulness of these protocols in regard to chiropractic examination, analysis, and correction. Additionally, vertebral subluxation as a primary and singular finding is consistent with the practice objective followed by thousands of doctors of chiropractic as explained in their Terms of Acceptance.
The chiropractor may use a variety of procedures to assess the vertebral subluxation to determine its presence and arrive at an impression of its location, character, type and chronicity. The correction of vertebral subluxation is appropriate for anyone exhibiting evidence of its existence regardless of the presence or absence of symptoms and/or disease. Therefore, the determination of the presence of vertebral subluxation stands as a sole rationale for care.
Nothing in this position statement absolves the chiropractor from knowing the limits of his or her authority and skill, and from determining the safety and appropriateness of chiropractic care. The chiropractor has a duty to disclose any unusual findings discovered in the course of examination.
Adopted from the IFCO- March 27, 2013
