Do cures by chiropractors mean that chiropractic cures?

Supporters of chiropractic sometimes claim that instances of successful treatment by persons holding D.C. degrees means that chiropractic works. The argument goes like this "Patient P went to a chiropractor with arm pain. The chiropractor massaged patient P's arm. The pain went away. Therefore, chirporactic works."

Is this a good argument?

1. What exactly is chiropractic treatment? What forms of treatment are not chiropractic?
2. If a chiropractor gave you an asprin, would that mean that administration of painkillers was a form of chiropractic treatment?
3. If a chiropractor did a voodoo dance, would that mean that voodoo dancing was a form of chiropractic treatment?
4. If a chiropractor gave you physiotherapy according to accepted medical practice, would that mean that physiotherapy was a form of chiropractic treatment?
5. If a chiropractor waved a crystal over you, would that mean that crystal waving was a form of chiropractic treatment?
6. If a chiropractor gives you a massage, does that mean that massage is a form of chiropractic treatment?

7. Consider Chef Psuedo, who claims to be a master of Terpsicookery, the art of making delicious food appear on people's plates by dancing around the dining room. He claims that dancing the way he does it will cause food to appear. Many people swear by him and insist that they have proof that he can make food appear out of thin air by dancing. However, when these people are questioned closely they always say things like "I went to Chef Pseudo's restaurant. He dances to make food appear, but he also has a kitchen filled with various food ingredients. His assistants took some of these ingredients and processed them in various ways, including chopping, slicing, frying, baking and sauteing, and then put the results on plates and put them on our table. This proves that dancing around the room causes food to appear out of empty air."

Given the example of Chef Pseudo, does the fact that chiropractors can do massage prove that chiropractic works? Why or why not?

Another way to approach this problem is to keep the questions in mind as you logically analyze the argument given above.

Remember that your task is to decide whether or not this argument by itself is strong enough to support its conclusion. Finding that this argument is bad does not mean that other arguments for this conclusion are also bad. If you find it bad, say it's bad and explain why it's bad. The one thing you must not do is bring up other, unrelated arguments to support this conclusion. You can do that later. Right now your task is to evaluate just this argument.

Of course, once you've finished evaluating the argument, you can go on and add any comments that occur to you. Did you change your mind about anything? Can you come up with better arguments on each side of the issue? Can you figure out what questions have to be settled before we can decide this issue? Based on the arguments you've seen so far, what is your overall take on the issue at this moment? What reasons do you have for coming to this conclusion? Anything else?

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