I believe it’s obvious that some chiropractic therapy does “work” in certain ways, for some people, some of the time. The most important factor in the usefulness of chiropractic therapy is not the nature of chiropractic as a profession, but the skill and good sense of the particular chiropractor whose hands are on your neck. Ethical, intelligent practitioners of any helping profession will always deliver better care than less competent members of their own or any other profession. It’s important to Choose the Therapist, Not the Therapy. Consumers need to be aware of the issues to help them choose a chiropractor.
I am not highly qualified and I am extremely biased. And so all I will do here is summarize the issues in a readable way, and quote the opinions of experts who are qualified, and cite and summarize some of the same scientific evidence that they do. I have no wish to re-invent the wheel: there are already many excellent books available on this topic. This is a quick tour, not a tour de force.