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Why Doctors Attack Chiropractic on Social Media, And What Parents Should Know

Episode 152, Experience Miracles Podcast | Host: Dr. Tony Ebel, DC, CACCP, Pediatric Chiropractor & Founder of PX Docs | Published: October 31, 2024 | Duration: ~50 min

Key Takeaways

• Straw man arguments drive most anti-chiropractic social media content, critics attack positions that Neurologically-Focused Chiropractic Care practitioners never actually take, such as claiming chiropractors diagnose or cure ADHD, when the actual goal is identifying and correcting underlying nervous system dysregulation.
• The rise of anti-chiropractic posts from medical doctors correlates directly with a massive shift in parental trust: millions of families are moving away from symptom-management medicine toward drug-free, root-cause neurological care, and that market shift is being felt.
• Conventional emergency medicine saves lives in crisis situations, while Neurologically-Focused Chiropractic Care restores lives by repairing and regulating the nervous system for chronic conditions like autism, ADHD, sensory processing disorder, and anxiety, the two approaches are complementary, not competitive.
• Modern neuroscience, including research on neuroplasticity, vagus nerve modulation, dysautonomia, and heart rate variability (HRV), now confirms what chiropractic has understood for over 125 years: the nervous system is the master controller of health.
• Results, not initials, are the only valid measure of any healthcare approach. Parents who have watched children heal through neurological care are not delusional, they are data points.

Why Are Medical Doctors Attacking Chiropractic on Social Media?

Medical doctors posting anti-chiropractic content on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube are largely responding to two things: a loss of market share and the discomfort of being wrong in public. Millions of parents are shifting their trust and their healthcare decisions away from conventional symptom-management medicine and toward drug-free, neurologically-focused approaches, and that shift is accelerating. When an approach is exploding in popularity because it works, those who profit from the alternative tend to react defensively.

The arguments being made against chiropractic are almost always straw man arguments, attacks on positions chiropractors don’t actually hold. A prime example: a medical doctor reacting to a PX Docs reel about ADHD and neurological scanning, claiming chiropractors were diagnosing ADHD using those scans. The actual content made the opposite point, that INSiGHT Scans identify nervous system dysfunction and dysregulation, not diagnose or treat ADHD as a condition. Critics are arguing against something that isn’t being said.

The more useful question for parents isn’t who’s winning the social media argument. It’s simpler: which approach is producing better health outcomes for children? Parents who have watched a child go from chronic illness and developmental struggles to genuine healing through Neurologically-Focused Chiropractic Care are not easy to argue out of that. Results are the most durable form of evidence.

The Straw Man Problem: What Neurologically-Focused Chiropractors Actually Do [00:01:00 – 00:10:00]

Dr. Tony Ebel, DC, CACCP: Are you seeing it? A lot of you are tagging us in this recent steady stream of Instagram, Facebook, YouTube posts, medical doctors in their scrubs and white coats doing everything they can to throw down with chiropractors, natural health, supplements, any kind of non-pharmacological root-cause nervous system healing that actually gets kids and families better.

I want to respond, but not by going on a rant with no basis or substance. You deserve my full, grounded response. And I want to start with a concrete example.

This morning we were tagged in a reel from a pediatrician account, I believe it was Peds Doc Talk, reacting to a reel from one of our top PX Docs, Dr. Kevin Powell and his team in Franklin, Tennessee. That reel has over 21 million views because parents are desperate for root-cause, neuroscientific answers about why their kids are struggling with focus and behavioral regulation.

In her reaction, this medical doctor claimed the reel was about “diagnosing ADHD using scans.” She apparently didn’t read the caption, because the entire point of the reel was the opposite: we do not diagnose or treat ADHD. We find the root cause, nervous system dysregulation, disruption, and delays within neurodevelopment, that are triggering the neurophysiological expressions that add up to the symptoms labeled as ADHD.

That is the definition of a straw man argument. You argue against something the other person never said.

For the record, there is no validated test for ADHD in conventional medicine either. Clinical psychologists and psychiatrists have parents fill out surveys, surveys often hosted on websites that connect you to the doctors who prescribe the medications. ADHD is framed as a “chemical imbalance,” but they don’t test for any chemical imbalance before putting kids on stimulant medications. So if we’re talking about scientific rigor, let’s be honest about what’s actually happening on both sides.

“If you are not caught up to speed on the actual science behind these conditions today, when you go to react to someone who is, you’re not going to have a very scientifically accurate reaction.”

The purpose of our platform, this podcast, PX Docs, the content we put out, is to bring parents the updated neuroscience they are not getting in conventional pediatrician offices. Not 1980 neuroscience. Not 2000 neuroscience. What neuroplasticity, neurodevelopment, and neurological function research says today.

Being Right vs. Being Effective [00:11:00 – 00:18:00]

Dr. Tony Ebel: The real problem sparking this on social media isn’t chiropractic versus medicine. We live in a crazy polarized world, and when you watch these reaction reels, you can see clearly: their primary goal is two things. They want to be right, and they want to protect their turf, their market share.

Millions of parents are shifting their principles, their actions, and their trust away from the conventional medical system. They’ve been in charge for generations. And now we have the sickest generation of kids, the most medicated generation of parents, and the most medicated generation of grandparents in history.

You can look three generations in any direction and see the pattern. Grandparents who followed the conventional “pill for every ill” model. Parents who are overweight, anxious, depressed, diabetic, and on multiple medications. Kids who get sicker the more they cycle through the conventional system. That’s not an attack, it’s just what parents observe when they open their eyes.

I had a mentor in my career, Dr. David Jackson, who taught me something I’ve never forgotten: the most important thing is that the goal of whatever you are saying and doing needs to be being effective, being in service and benefiting others, more than it is about being right.

When someone only wants to be right, they love reaction reels. They love clickbait. They love poking the bear. That’s the algorithm. Meanwhile, over here on this platform and in PX Docs offices, we are doing everything we can to be effective and helpful and in service to your family.

“Why would we not build a healthcare system that works with the body naturally, neurologically first, and saves emergency crisis, pharmaceutical surgical interventions last?”

The pharmaceutical and hospital industries have more lobbyists in Washington than oil and gas. This isn’t about getting kids healthy, it’s about protecting a system. And if they can keep everybody distracted and irritated and angry, they keep the status quo. Every family that stays confused and stuck is a family not walking the path of natural neurological healing.

Outcomes Over Opinions: Let the Results Speak [00:19:00 – 00:30:00]

Dr. Tony Ebel: Let’s stop looking at TikTok drama and look at outcomes instead. Take a thousand kids raised in families who go to a PX chiropractor first, families who don’t reach for antibiotics, corticosteroids, or over-the-counter fever reducers for every sniffle. Families who work with their child’s nervous system proactively. Now take a thousand kids from the conventional pediatrician track, where medications are the first response to everything. Just ask the question: which group is healthier?

These studies are being done and have been done. But here’s the thing, as a parent, you don’t even need a study. You can look at my practice. I see how ridiculously healthy, vibrant, resilient, and adaptable the families are who get adjusted and live this way. And my kids go to school and play sports, so I also see the families who don’t. The contrast is not subtle.

Families on the conventional-only path are riddled with asthma, allergies, chronic illness, ADHD, anxiety, and depression. They’re on multiple medications and they don’t know there’s a different path because they’re stuck in default mode. That’s not a judgment, it’s just what happens when you don’t know your options.

Chiropractic and natural neurological health are exploding in the marketplace for one reason: they work. You can’t argue a mom out of what she witnessed when her chronically ill child started healing. You can’t argue a dad out of the moment his non-verbal child made eye contact and said his name for the first time.

That’s lived experience. And it’s the most powerful evidence there is.

“Parents will wade right through all the polarization and the politicalization of all of this, whether content or conventional medicine, and they will find the practitioners and the solutions and the answers for their child, no matter what.”

Now here’s something I say with complete sincerity, because I’ve lived it: I have enormous respect and gratitude for emergency medicine. My son Oliver is alive because of it. Surgeries, medications, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, a machine called ECMO, saved his life after a traumatic birth. Oliver’s hospital bill, had we paid cash, would have been north of $1.2 million. I would have paid $100 million if that’s what it took.

If I could find Oliver’s surgeon right now, I would give her the biggest hug I know how to give. When medicine is in its lane, emergency, crisis, trauma, it is miraculous. Those physicians and nurses save lives in ways that are genuinely hard to describe.

Conventional medicine saves lives. Neurologically-Focused Chiropractic Care restores lives. Both of those things are true. The question is sequencing: what should come first for a child with chronic illness, developmental delays, or nervous system dysregulation?

The Nervous System Revolution: 125 Years of Chiropractic Neuroscience [00:31:00 – 00:41:00]

Dr. Tony Ebel: Science has evolved, especially neuroscience. It now confirms that neuroplasticity, neurodevelopment, vagus nerve modulation, dysautonomia, and Sympathetic Dominance are at the center of childhood chronic illness. And everything current neuroscience is saying about those concepts is what chiropractic has understood for 125-plus years.

Here’s something wild: when critics say, “chiropractic is outdated,” you can go back and read the foundational texts in chiropractic, what we call the green books, written over a century ago, and they read like the most modern neurologically-focused, drug-free health approach you’ve ever seen. Chiropractic has never been about the spine. It’s always been about the nervous system. The spine is how you access it.

Meanwhile, at the exact same time chiropractic was identifying how subluxation disrupts nervous system signaling, leading to dysautonomia, sensory-motor dysfunction, and altered prefrontal cortex function, conventional medicine was doing bloodletting with leeches and performing lobotomies for “brain-based challenges.” Let’s be careful about which profession accuses the other of being unscientific.

Right now, all over Instagram, you see people from every background, moms, health coaches, psychologists, saying the same thing: I tried medications. I tried diet changes. I tried every functional approach. And then I worked on my nervous system. I addressed my Sympathetic Dominance. I activated my vagus nerve and my parasympathetic system. And that’s when everything changed.

That’s chiropractic. That’s the neuroscience that has always been behind this profession. Now, every week, more research on dysautonomia, HRV, and sensory-motor development in children is coming out, and it all confirms what chiropractic has practiced for over a century.

“When you focus on autonomic function and the nervous system, you’re tapping into digestion, immune function, inflammation, endocrine control, mitochondria, and detoxification.”

For children with autism, ADHD, sensory processing disorder, and anxiety, the goal is not to suppress symptoms. The goal is to restore optimal neurological function, naturally, without drugs, and give the brain and body the conditions they need to heal from the inside out.

Understanding Before Criticizing: What Critics Get Wrong [00:42:00 – 00:45:00]

Dr. Tony Ebel: One more point that I think is important: if you are going to criticize neurologically-focused chiropractic and subluxation science, you should probably try to understand it first.

Not a single person I’ve been tagged in, across all these reels and videos, shows any sign of actually knowing how this works. Here’s the most obvious thing that everyone forgets: if you didn’t go to chiropractic school, you don’t know anything about it. That’s not arrogance, it’s just true in every direction. I’m not going to tell you how surgery works or how a medication mechanism functions, because I didn’t train in that. I know what I know through my education, my lived experience as a parent, and the research I read constantly.

The only argument these critics make is time in school. “It took me 12 years. 14 years. Look at all my initials.” Okay. But what results is it generating for your patients?

Results speak louder than credentials. And I know parents who are on this podcast, parents who have done the research because they love their kids too much not to, who understand neurophysiology and root cause better than many conventional medical doctors. Not because they went to school for it, but because they cared enough to dig.

We honor that. Always.

Advice for Parents: How to Handle the Noise [00:46:00 – 00:49:00]

Dr. Tony Ebel: If you’re irritated by the medical doctors getting on Instagram and TikTok and bashing your choices for your family, here is my recommendation: do what I do. Don’t comment. Don’t reply. Delete. Block. Ban. Bye-bye.

Those platforms gave us those tools for exactly these situations. Use them.

You are not delusional. You are not confused. You are on those platforms for one reason: you are searching for answers, for practitioners, for interventions that will get your kids healthy again. And the fact that you found this podcast and this platform means you already understand something at a deeper level than the people making those reaction reels.

This podcast, this network, these practitioners, we are not here to fight against medicine. We will cheer on crisis and emergency medicine every single day. They are extraordinary at what they do. We are here to fight for your kids: naturally, neurologically, healing from the inside out, with medications and surgery reserved as the last resort, not the first and only resort.

To have healthy kids in a healthy country, it is going to take all of us. Every kid counts.

“At the end of the day, there’s only one thing that matters, and that’s results, and that’s working with you in the direction and with the interventions that you choose are right for your family.”

Frequently Asked Questions

Why are medical doctors suddenly posting so much anti-chiropractic content?

The surge in anti-chiropractic social media content from medical doctors reflects a real shift happening in healthcare: millions of parents are moving toward drug-free, neurologically-focused care and away from conventional symptom management. Dr. Tony Ebel argues that most of this backlash is defensive, about protecting market share, and that the arguments being made are almost always straw man arguments attacking positions that neurologically-focused chiropractors don’t actually hold.

Does chiropractic care diagnose or treat ADHD?

No. Neurologically-Focused Chiropractic Care does not diagnose or treat ADHD as a condition. The focus is identifying and correcting underlying nervous system dysregulation, disruptions in neurodevelopment that produce the symptoms labeled as ADHD. INSiGHT Scans measure nervous system function, not diagnostic criteria. The goal is to address root-cause neurological dysfunction so the child’s brain and body can function better naturally.

Is chiropractic care backed by science?

Yes. Modern neuroscience, including research on neuroplasticity, vagus nerve modulation, dysautonomia, heart rate variability (HRV), and sensory-motor development, now confirms what chiropractic has practiced for over 125 years: the autonomic nervous system controls digestion, immune function, inflammation, endocrine regulation, and detoxification. Addressing subluxation and its effects on nervous system signaling is a neurologically grounded approach, not a fringe one.

Can chiropractic care and conventional medicine work together?

Yes, and Dr. Tony Ebel is emphatic about this. Conventional emergency medicine saves lives, in crisis, trauma, and acute infection, it is unmatched. Dr. Ebel’s own son Oliver survived a traumatic birth because of emergency medical intervention, including ECMO. Neurologically-Focused Chiropractic Care restores lives by repairing and regulating the nervous system for chronic conditions. The two approaches serve different purposes; the question is sequencing, which should come first for a child dealing with chronic illness or neurodevelopmental challenges.

What should parents do when they see anti-chiropractic posts online?

Dr. Tony Ebel’s advice is direct: don’t comment, don’t reply. Delete, block, and move on. Parents on these platforms are there to find answers and help for their children, not to fight. The energy is better spent finding the practitioners and approaches that actually produce results. Find a PX Docs office near you.

How do I find a Neurologically-Focused Chiropractor for my child?

The PX Docs Directory is the best starting point. Every practitioner listed has trained in the Neurologically-Focused Chiropractic Care approach Dr. Tony Ebel teaches, including the use of INSiGHT Scans to assess nervous system function and build individualized care plans.

Resources & Related Content

• Neurologically-Focused Chiropractic Care, PX Docs, Overview of the PX Docs approach and clinical philosophy
• ADHD and the Nervous System, PX Docs condition page on ADHD
• Autism and Neurological Care, PX Docs condition page on autism
• The Perfect Storm Framework, Dr. Tony Ebel’s core framework for understanding childhood chronic illness
• Vagus Nerve Dysfunction in Children, PX Docs resource on vagus nerve and autonomic function
• Sensory Processing Disorder, PX Docs condition page
• Find a PX Docs Office Near You, PX Docs Practitioner Directory
• Next Episode: The Body Keeps Score: You Can’t Regulate What You Haven’t First Repaired