Subluxation is a Fraud & Scam According to Testimony by Australian Chiropractor Keith Charlton
In testimony submitted to the Australian Regulatory Board in a case involving a newborn who had suffered from birth trauma and was undergoing chiropractic care for vertebral subluxation, chiropractic researcher Keith H Charlton DC, MPhil, MPainMed, PhD, FICC stated that:
“I speculate that as chiropractors became more numerous, building a practice became more difficult, and this conceptual shift gave rise to a new market, a new disease . . . ‘vertebral subluxation’. It’s akin to drug companies developing treatments for new, invented ‘diseases’ in mature markets . . . female sexual dysfunction, for instance. It expands the commercial opportunities available for greater profit. It’s the province of the VS Group of chiropractors. It’s a scam.”
The case, involving a mother who had taken her birth injured child to a chiropractor for help with a number of health issues following the trauma, arose after the grandmother of the child urged the mother to get a second opinion. The new chiropractor filed a complaint with the Australian Regulatory Board, however the Board insisted that the mother needed to file a complaint. She eventually did while also admitting she did not know who to believe.
The Board took her "complaint" and ran with it.
Charlton, a well known subluxation denier who brags about testifying against subluxation centered chiropractors, was brought in by the Board to provide testimony. In an email submitted as part of the discovery process, Charlton admitted that he was not familiar with the care of children by chiropractors and asked advice from an American subluxation denier about whether children can get subluxated. According to the e-mail:
“I can say unequivocally that there is no literature establishing the presence (or absence for that matter) of vertebral subluxation in infants”
The child in the case still had bruising on its head and deformation of the skull due to the birth trauma when the mother sought chiropractic care. The chiropractor performed an exam, did thermal scanning and proceeded to adjust the child who experienced improvement even after the first visit. It wasn't until after the second opinion that the mother became doubtful regarding the need for care despite her child's improvement.
Regarding evidence for the existence of vertebral subluxation Charlton testified that:
“There is none. Some of us have been writing on this for years.”
He went on to opine that:
“There are those who consider chiropractic care a musculoskeletal disorders remedy, and regard vertebral subluxation, the notional manipulable lesion, a theoretical construct, for which there is presently no evidence beyond anecdote or intuition.”
Charlton also claimed that the thermal scans were inappropriate stating:
“The use of a thermal scan as if it had any diagnostic utility for this patient is quite inappropriate. Thermal scans are utterly useless for this purpose (and almost any other).”
During the subsequent trial another expert, testifying alongside Charlton, also argued that the thermal scans were useless, however on cross examination he admitted under oath that he was color blind so could not interpret the scans.
One of the issues in the case was if and how subluxation could be diagnosed. Charlton provided testimony that:
“If one claims to be able to diagnose vertebral subluxation, the ordinary way of basic science is to show how it can be done and to be able to show when it has been resolved, as well as to show when it is not present in a spine. None of this has been done: in fact, all such research so far shows it cannot be done.”
Just prior to the proceedings in the case several of the expert witnesses that were scheduled to testify in the case were intimidated by the regulatory board after one of them had been accused of perjury and his house raided by the police. This caused several of the key experts for the chiropractor to decline to testify out of concern for their own welfare. In fact, the Board had been targeting subluxation based chiropractors who utilized pre and post x-rays, instrumentation, and pre-paid care plans.
One expert from the United States that did testify was Reginald Gold DC.
Charlton also attacked him stating:
“In fact Reginald Gold has a long history of publicly, self declared cultist quackery-ridden attitudes and behaviors which I have heard and seen myself face to face with him.”
Charlton is a well known “Subluxation Denier” and frequently attacks subluxation based chiropractors in his peer reviewed research papers and on Facebook groups. So egotistical is he that in his testimony to the regulatory board he told them:
“My opinion is best understood by reading my own references.”
In a recent statement on January 5, 2017 that he posted all over Facebook, Charlton appears to have become unglued relative to his disdain for chiropractors who locate, analyze and correct vertebral subluxations stating:
“We need NOW in 2017 and beyond to get rid of the quacks that do us so much harm. They need to be treated personally and professionally as utterly unacceptable creatures to be shunned and opposed at every turn. Time to get going on cleaning out the trash. And that includes all signs, websites, literature, handouts and speech of staff and chiropractors.”
Charlton practices in Australia where subluxation based chiropractors have been under attack for years – especially in regards to children. Though Charlton’s wrath is not limited only to those caring for children. In his testimony he asserted:
“I can find no reason for any chiropractor, anywhere, ever to make any public claim that vertebral subluxation has any health consequences whatever, or to be able reliably to find or relieve vertebral subluxation, on any other basis than fraud.”
