The Judgment Reflex
Why our instinct to critique fellow chiropractors is the fastest way to keep the profession small—and how we flip the script
There’s a behavior inside chiropractic that frustrates me more than low reimbursements, tougher audits, or even a bad headline.
It’s the way we treat each other.
I’ve lost track of how many conversations go sideways the instant a doctor shares their approach—technique, fee style, patient flow. Instead of curiosity, the room fills with critique:
A quick eye-roll.
A passive-aggressive Facebook comment.
A loud teardown at a seminar mic.
We’ve become experts at drawing lines:
Cash vs. insurance
High-volume vs. boutique
Tonal vs. mechanistic
Principled vs. “integrated”
We act as if our differences are threats to be neutralized, not strengths to be understood.
The Human Hard-Wiring Behind the Drama
This isn’t because chiropractors are uniquely petty; it’s because we’re human. Thousands of years of evolution taught us to sort the tribe from the outsider in milliseconds. Judgment feels safe.
But in a profession fighting for cultural relevance, that reflex becomes a liability.
While we police each other’s technique videos, three bigger things are happening outside the bubble:
Policy rooms set rules on access and reimbursement—with no DC in sight.
Media narratives about non-invasive care skip chiropractic altogether.
Healthcare negotiations decide the future—and we’re not invited.
Why? Because when decision-makers look at us they see one thing: division.
You can’t earn a seat at the big table to have a voice if you can’t even sit together at your own.
A Better Reflex: Curiosity > Critique
No one’s asking you to ditch your philosophy or hide your outcomes. The ask is simpler:
Humility over judgment – Assume the doc across from you knows something valuable you don’t.
Questions over assumptions – “Why did you choose that model?” beats “That’s not real chiropractic.”
Common ground over competition – The public we haven’t served yet is a bigger market than the sliver we each claim now.
What Unity Actually Looks Like
The pediatric tonal doc and the evidence-based PI practitioner? Both chiropractors.
The subluxation-focused cash clinic and the rehab-heavy in-network office? Both serving their communities.
The garage practice seeing 30 a week and the 20-provider mega-group? Both valid expressions of the same profession.
Unity isn’t sameness.
It’s the decision to stand for something larger than personal preference.
The Cost of Staying Petty
Every time we choose judgment first, we:
Waste advocacy bandwidth arguing technique instead of scope.
Confuse patients who already don’t know what chiropractic is.
Signal to policymakers that we’re not mature enough to be taken seriously.
Impact shrinks.
Opportunity passes.
And we go back to complaining about being left out—while still leaving each other out.
Choose Progress Over Pride
I’m done spending energy on intra-chiropractic turf wars.
I’d rather spend it on:
Getting more people adjusted (and rehabbed, and lasered, and moving—whatever helps).
Earning a decisive voice in healthcare debates.
Showing the public that chiropractic isn’t a sideshow; it’s central.
We’ll only get there when we dial down the judgment reflex and turn up the curiosity switch.
Let’s be the profession that traded finger-pointing for forward motion.
That’s the legacy worth leaving.
Dr. Glenn Jaffe is a chiropractor, practice owner, and national advocate with over two decades in the profession. A former president of the North Carolina Chiropractic Association and current legislative leader, he writes about the intersection of leadership, cultural relevance, and the climb chiropractic must undertake to reach its full potential — while quietly helping chiropractors build practices that work as well as they heal.