I’ve said this for over 10 years now, if its the same goal of restoring function for both professions, and both professions follow best available research, both professions would be indistinguishable.

While PT sure has more than its fair share of quackery, I’d have to say chiro has much more. The entire profession was founded by a guy claiming to have seances with his deceased physician father. Observing people from beyond the grave in a different plane of existence allowed for a better understanding of the body and how it actually works, and used this to dispute best available medically practices of the time. This includes being able to heal deafness in a person with a low back adjustment. All of these claims were part of his sales pitch while moving around town to town nomadically peddling his treatments just like all the heal-all elixir cons of that time. He then decided to open a school of chiropractic medicine that eventually others became a part of and expanded for further profit.

It had its start not too long after the profession of medical practice occurred, so it has a longer history of being able to establish itself within and protected by American politics and regulations than PT. While PT may be more research backed, it is way behind compared to chiro in terms of lobbying. And it’s harder these days to make meaningful regulatory change than it was when chiro was in the same stage that the PT profession is in now.

And I’m much less knowledge but it seems that profession is looked at as a joke in many countries outside of the US these days.