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Maximized Living Quackery

There is an organization of Chiropractors called Maximized Living. You can see their main web site here. That lead in page appears innocent enough, but if you do a search on this company you come up with a different picture than the benevolent doctors they pretend to be.

Perhaps more instructive is to see the statements they make about various illnesses. This is nonsense of the highest order, and dangerous nonsense, too. Not only do they try to bleed honest people out of their money, they try fear tactics with pseudo scientific statements. The number of diseases they say are affected primarily by "nerve supply" (whatever that is) is astounding. Of course, they are the ones to consult if you need your nervous system "scanned" and adjusted to help your erectile dysfunction or your PMS. Even your diabetes! And while you are there, maybe you can find the subtle parts about how your medicine (the medicine given to you by your other yucky doctor) is bad for you and you shouldn't take it any more--just get your nerve scans and let your body take care of itself, because God made your body perfect and self healing, as long as you visit your Maximized Living "doctor" (who was sent by God personally to help you) at least once a week for the rest of your life.

Oh, did I say fear tactics? Take a look at this statement, from their FAQ.

One of the many questions people ask about going to a chiropractor or any wellness provider is this one: why do I have to go for the rest of my life? The easy answer is: you don’t. You only have to go for as long as you want to stay healthy!   When do you stop drinking clean water? When does exercise stop being important? When do you stop building loving relationships? The answer is of course never, unless at some point you stop caring about your life.

And while on the subject of scaring you, be aware that if you allow your children to be vaccinated against diseases that have killed, sickened, and crippled millions of children, you are actually giving your children poison. At least that's what Maximized Living says. Apparently, these ML people have no ethics at all.

When their descriptions of medical solutions center around "nerve supply" is it surprising that if you do a search on this company, you will find that every patient seems to get the same diagnosis and recommended treatment? Some of these "doctors" see thousands of patients a week. You do the math and determine for yourself how much attention is given to each patient.

Some sources have reported that there are scripts that the Maximized Living doctors are supposed to follow to increase their income.

Upate: That page is now gone, because Maximized living has taken legal action regarding it. For a while you can see the page as it used to exist here. The basis of the legal action is that Maximized Living owns the scripts on that page and they are asserting their copyright to the scripts. They are not saying that the scripts are fake--they are saying that the scripts are theirs.

These people also try to mix religion in with their practice. It reminds me of the joke about the preacher exclaiming "Praise the Lord and pass the collection plate!"

For more on the dangers of chiropractic treatment in general, see here. 

For a discussion of a recent scientific paper regarding the effectiveness of chiropractic, see here.

For a review of recent studies done about chiropractic, see here.

In Great Britain, there is a legal case in progress where chiropractors have sued a science writer for correctly pointing out that their treatments have no evidence of working for things they claim it works for. I guess if you don't have science on your side, having lawyers on your side is a good way to shut up people who would tell the truth about your profession. 

Update: The case is over. The British High Court issued a ruling that may revolutionize libel law in the UK, where the law had frequently been used to suppress scientific facts. Rather than pursue the case any more or back up their fraudulent claims with decent scientific studies, the chiropractors have decided to withdraw the case. As one of the judges said during the appeal hearing, “I’m just baffled. If there is reliable evidence, why hasn't someone published it?” In its opinion, the court said that "the unhappy impression has been created that this is an endeavour by the BCA to silence one of its critics." The court favorably quoted a U.S. court opinion that "Scientific controversies must be settled by the methods of science rather than by the methods of litigation. … More papers, more discussion, better data, and more satisfactory models – not larger awards of damages – mark the path towards superior understanding of the world around us."

While the case was progressing, the chiropractors started having doubts about the PR aspect of their bullying tactics, and finally got around to releasing what they claimed was evidence for their assertions, which turned out to be a miserable mismash of irrelevancy and poorly conducted studies.

Here you can see the article that brought on the law suit.

Here is a video that illustrates the pure fraud these Maximized Living people engage in. This is not some renegade who happened to slip into the Maximized Living fraud factory unnoticed. Maxmized Living endorses this loony doctor's view on its own web site, where it says "... the most vital test is a scan of your Nervous system to ensure maximum nerve supply is reaching every organ of the body including the pancreas.  If this communication is restored the body will not only heal itself but begin to function normally again." This is dangerous quackery that is likely to seriously injure people or even kill them.

It's clear that Maximized Living is nothing but a bunch of Maximized Liars, without an ounce of integrity.

Even the General Chiropractic Council in Great Britain has this to say.

The chiropractic vertebral subluxation complex is an historical concept but it remains a theoretical model. It is not supported by any clinical research evidence that would allow claims to be made that it is the cause of disease or health concerns.


So what about all those testimonials you see on chiropractics' web sites?