There are four main perspectives in chiropractic philosophy. These include holism, conservatism, homeostasis, and perspective or situation. Holism is a theory that is growing in popularity that everything in your environment directly affects your health – traditionalists are likely to include a spiritual aspect to holism. Conservatism, which is also becoming more widely accepted in certain situations, weighs the risks of modern medicine against their perceived benefits. While traditionalists in this area will often avoid modern medicine if at all possible, the modern chiropractors will try and integrate some noninvasive clinical treatments. Homeostasis focuses on the self healing of the body. Although this was at one point thought to be a myth by clinical doctors, recent evidence shows that this does exist in many situations. The last of the four perspectives is the one of perspective or situation. Traditional chiropractors tend to trust their perspective more, while modern ones tend to lean towards treatment based on the explicit situation that the patient is in.

Chiropractic is most commonly practiced in the United States, Canada, and Australia, although there is limited presence of the discipline within Europe. As is expected, the majority of the people who visit Chiropractors do so because of neck and back problems, especially low back pain. When it comes to these types of pain, the satisfaction rate for working with a chiropractor is quite high. In fact, for back pain, neck pain, and headaches, the satisfaction rate is generally higher with a chiropractor than with a clinical doctor. However, there are other aspects of chiropractic that are not near as widely used, nor as widely accepted by the public. Theories such as applied kinesiology are used by less than 1/5th of patients who visit a chiropractor, and are generally controversial in western medicine.

For the most part, chiropractic is a safe and effective form of treatment that can help increase quality of life, decrease pain, and solve various health problems. Although it is mainly practiced in the U.S., Canada, and Australia, its popularity is growing worldwide, and should continue to do so as it continues proving effective.