Modern medicine and chiropractic diverge in their philosophical approach to caring for the human body. Medicine relies primarily on drugs and surgery to heal the human body. Chiropractic philosophy maintains that the human body is intelligent and can heal itself. Good health needs an optimally functioning nervous system, particularly the spine and the nerves radiating from it. The spine's structure influences how the body maintains itself. When the spine shifts from its natural alignment, it interferes with the nerves' operation. Nerves are paths transmitting signals to the entire body as to functioning. Excellent health is dependent on a well coodinated and structurally sound relationship between the mind and body.

Medicine focuses on disease and treats different parts of the body. Medical practitioners treat symptoms in an effort to cure disease. Their approach is that sickness results from disease and the disease is what is treated, not necesarily the total body. The essence of medicine is to relieve pain and postpone death.

Chiropractic focuses on health and the body as a whole. Its approach is holistic. The goal is to heal the entire person and correct the cause(s) of the problem. The approach is that patients have a disease because they are sick, the reverse of traditional medicine. Chiropractors treat the person who is sick, not just the disease. The focus is on building health, which results in relieving pain and prolonging life.