Drugs in chiropractic clinical practice: contemplating the variables which influence utility.

Philosophical commitment to a natural form of health care does not exempt practitioners who function in a drug-utilizing health care system from an appreciation of the potential use and abuse of pharmaceutical agents. The strategies used for evaluating drug therapy may provide a framework for ascertaining the clinical appropriateness of drugless forms of health care. This paper proposes that in view of the regular use of drugs by chiropractic patients, the prescription of nutritional supplements by chiropractors and the universal applicability of the management principles underlying the "drug model," chiropractic practitioners would benefit from familiarity with the theory and practice underlying the use of certain drugs.