Misuse of the terms chiropractic and chiropractor

• chiropractic manipulation
• cervical spine

I read with interest the case report by Beck et al.1

During the course of their case report Dr Beck and coauthors refer to the involved care provider as a “chiropractitioner” and describe the intervention delivered by that care provider as “chiropractic manipulation”. However, in Germany, a chiropractor and a chiropractitioner are very different. In that country a person who uses the title chiropractor will have successfully completed a course of study, usually of a minimum of five years, at a college/university accredited by the European Council on Chiropractic Education (ECCE). On the other hand, a chiropractitioner (also called a Heilpraktiker) usually has no formal qualification in chiropractic and at most may have completed a series of weekend seminars (personal communication, President, …