Why a Chiropractic Orthopedist Favors the Term “Chiropractic Subluxation”

Written by: James Demetrious, DC, DABCO

Board-Certified Chiropractic Orthopedist
Founder and CEO, PostGradDC

I am a chiropractic orthopedist and I love chiropractic.

My introduction to chiropractic care came unexpectedly. In high school, I sustained a spinal injury during wrestling practice. For three months, I struggled with persistent pain and functional limitation. A local medical orthopedist was unable to help me. Eventually, my father brought me to Dr. Lombino in Monroe, New York, a highly respected chiropractor.

Dr. Lombino carefully examined me and explained that I was suffering from a post-traumatic chiropractic subluxation. He treated me with spinal adjustments, and within two visits, my pain, present for three months was resolved. I returned to normal function.

At the time, I knew nothing of chiropractic’s history, philosophy, or professional controversies. What I knew was simple and undeniable: a chiropractor relieved my suffering and restored my ability to function when conventional medical care had failed. There was a core truth to chiropractic that I experienced firsthand.

I was the first person in my family to attend college. As I considered my future, I made a point of speaking with physicians about their professions. Among all the doctors I interviewed, Dr. Lombino stood out. He was the only one who spoke with genuine passion and joy about his work. That mattered to me.

I decided to attend chiropractic college. There, I was surprised, perhaps naïvely, to discover how unkind the world could be toward chiropractic. Many in the medical profession, and in the public at large, viewed chiropractic as unscientific or cult-like. That characterization stood in stark contrast to my lived experience. A chiropractor had changed my life when the best medicine available to me had not.

So I studied relentlessly. I immersed myself in the earliest pioneers of evidence-based medicine. I spent countless hours in the medical library at Nassau County Medical Center. I listened to chiropractic philosophy courses that were heavily vitalistic and, in many cases, unsupported by evidence. I questioned concepts that others accepted without scrutiny.

I was not rejecting chiropractic, I was trying to understand it more deeply. I wanted to know why chiropractic helped me when medicine did not.

Early in my practice, a medical orthopedist visited my office and asked if I could help his wife, who suffered from migraines. Within a few visits, she improved significantly. That encounter led to a close professional friendship. In gratitude, he invited me to observe him in surgery and to shadow him in his office. He introduced me to radiologists, primary care physicians, and medical specialists throughout the region.

For years, I benefited from an informal preceptorship through the generosity of these physicians. It profoundly shaped my clinical reasoning, diagnostic rigor, and respect for interdisciplinary collaboration.

To further elevate my ability to recognize contraindications and manage complex cases, I pursued board certification in chiropractic orthopedics. This required more than three years of intensive postgraduate study, culminating in a national written and practical examination—an examination many who completed the coursework did not pass.

That training deepened my respect for chiropractic. Although I disagreed with certain practices within the profession, I developed a strong sense of responsibility for the foundational principles that had been entrusted to me.

Over the years, many chiropractors, academicians, educators, and authors have criticized historic chiropractic terminology and teachings in an effort to distance themselves from non-scientific or overly vitalistic concepts they find objectionable.

As a board-certified chiropractic orthopedist, academician, educator, and author, I take a different view.

I do not reject chiropractic’s historic underpinnings. My experience of more than forty years of patient care is unambiguous. Chiropractic is safe. Chiropractic is effective.

While the term chiropractic subluxation may be considered antiquated by some, to me, it remains a clinically meaningful concept. It can be applied to neuromusculoskeletal abnormalities that are definable, testable, and increasingly measurable through advanced biomarkers and modern diagnostic tools available today, that I discuss in my PostGradDC coursework, in an Clinical Pearl that I wrote and a past article.

My generation of chiropractors has done its duty. We have carried forward the science, philosophy, and art of chiropractic with diligence, skepticism where appropriate, and professional responsibility.

It is now essential that the next generation carry this work forward, grounded in evidence, respectful of history, and confident in the value chiropractic brings to patient care.

PostGradDC offers advanced post-graduate chiropractic continuing education. Our founder, Dr. James Demetrious, is a distinguished board-certified chiropractic orthopedist, educator, author, and editor. 

© 2025 – James Demetrious, DC, DABCO. Open Access. Unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction are allowed in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit by citing the original author and source: Demetrious J. Why Chiropractic Subluxation is a Great Descriptor. PostGradDC.com; 2025.