[oatman (OP)]

I've heard people comparing chiropractors to homeopaths but I also know many people that trust in it/recommend it.

I used to think it was simply about helping to correct backs etc, but I have read that chiropractors believe back pain is also linked to many other problems and diseases, which sounds a bit dubious.


Is there any proof to these claims, and if not why is it so widely available/accepted?

[JP]

There's a good site at chirobase.org that goes into a lot of the problems with chiropracty.  There's an introduction here:  http://www.chirobase.org/01General/controversy.html

The basic take-home message seems to be that chiropracty can be good at relieving back pain, though it doesn't always work.  There is no scientific evidence that it can help with other diseases. 

[Geezer]

If you go to a chiropractor they will likely analyse your back and determine that the stresses and strains on your spine are anything but uniform. Obviously, this is likely to result in some form of back pain. They will likely encourage you to participate in a series of procedures that will help to reduce these nonuniform forces, and they will probably help.

What they might not mention is that the majority of humans on the planet Earth have anything but uniform stresses and strains on their spines. Despite that, many of them do not experience much back pain.

[Bored chemist]

Chiropractors have been found to make fraudulent claims about their abilities.
The people you know who have found the "treatment" to work have probably benefited from the placebo effect, or the fact that most back problem come and go anyway.
They also make absurd assertions like
"Research  commissioned  by  the  British  Chiropractic  Association has
revealed that  over 1 in 3 people in  the UK are currently suffering  from
back pain."

Form here
http://www.chiropractic-uk.co.uk/gfx/uploads/textbox/Back%20Pain%20Research%20Nov%2004.pdf
That's not just some whackjob's thought on the matter, it's a quote from their own website.

[chris]

Ask Simon Singh for this opinion!

If fact, in this article - http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/articles/article/silencing-our-science-sos/ - you can see a copy of the article that Simon Singh penned for the Grauniad (Guardian) that got him sued by the BCA (British Chiropractic Association). They lost.