Chiropractic academics are calling for a crackdown on their fellow chiropractors for making ‘pseudoscientific’ claims that imply manual manipulations can prevent coronavirus.

In March, the US-based International Chiropractors Association (ICA) claimed that chiropractic care and spinal adjustments could boost immune function “with the implication that it might be helpful in preventing COVID-19”.

But academic chiropractors who reviewed the statement slammed the claim, finding it to be “plainly irresponsible” during a pandemic.

“Pseudoscience has the potential to mislead and misinform at any time; even more so in the midst of a pandemic, when the public is vulnerable,” they wrote in a commentary in the Chiropractic and Manual Therapies journal.