It is essential to check your chiropractor’s credentials as some may be practising illegally, a Body&Soul investigation has discovered. Under the Chiropractors Act of 1994, anyone who describes himself or herself as a chiropractor is guilty of an offence unless they are registered with the General Chiropractic Council (GCC). The GCC website has a blacklist of 22 chiropractors who have been issued with warnings after practising illegally.

Body&Soul tracked down more than half of them. The majority said they could no longer call themselves chiropractors — although several were still practising under different titles, such as “osteomyologist”. But two were still calling themselves chiropractors when we telephoned, posing as potential patients and, in a third call, a receptionist claimed that the practitioner was a chiropractor.

When Andrew Noble, of Bangor, County Down, answered his phone, he was asked: “Is that the chiropractor?” He replied: “Yes.” When asked the difference between a chiropractor and an osteopath, he replied: “We train a bit longer.” When we confronted him and accused him of practising illegally as a chiropractor, he replied: “I trained for six years in Canada and have practised for 23 years.

They wanted me to do my exams again to register with the GCC, but it is 30 years since I started training and there’s no way I’m going to pass my exams. I call myself a manipulative therapist on my business card but I am a chiropractor.”

When accused of misleading us, he added: “I apologise for that. I have a form that people sign which states what the situation is. Theoretically, I am breaking the law but the UK is the only country in the EU that has this legislation.”

Next on our list was Michael Hendley, at the Spinal Health Clinic in Brentwood, Essex. Asked whether he was a chiropractor, his receptionist, Beverley, said: “Yes.” We were encouraged to visit the clinic for a consultation.

When we confronted him, he said: “What my receptionist said was partly true because I trained as a chiropractor in the United States. I am registered in osteomyology here. My patients sign a form so that they know that I am not registered as a chiropractor.” Asked whether the receptionists had been informed during their training that it was illegal to describe Mr Hendley as a chiropractor, he replied: “There might have been a misunderstanding.” He added: “

Registering with the GCC is something that I will get done but the charge is exorbitant. It costs £1,500 to register and £1,200 a year.”

At Marion Churchill’s practice, Crescent Clinic in Bridgwater, Somerset, her receptionist Doreen, was asked: “Is she a qualified chiropractor?” She replied: “Yes”, and invited us to make an appointment. Still posing as a patient, we later spoke to Churchill on the phone and asked: “Are you a qualified chiropractor?” She replied: “I have a degree in it” and invited our reporter for “chiropractic manipulation” which would be “gentle and non-invasive”. When we confronted her, she said: “I don’t advertise as a chiropractor. My notepaper says I’m a McTimoney-Corley therapist. This all came about because I have refused to pay the registration fee that the GCC wants. I am still a qualified chiropractor; my degree from Oxford Brookes University says so. I am careful not to put it in print but when I am talking to patients, I cannot call myself a McTimoney-Corley therapist because they don’t understand.”

Body&Soul sent tapes of the conversations to the GCC. A spokeswoman said: “This demonstrates that patients must double-check that their chiropractor is registered with the GCC.” The GCC regularly refers cases to the police. Breaking Section 32 of the Chiropractors Act carries a maximum fine of £5,000.

Meanwhile, the General Osteopathic Council said there are seven “osteopaths” in the UK who still flagrantly practise without being qualified. The council plans to take them to court.

But even a visit to a properly qualified chiropractor can prove disastrous. Frances Denoon, 34, has been left disabled after suffering a stroke following a visit to a chiropractor in Bristol in 1998. She said: “I had been to my GP for painkillers after hurting my neck during a work-out at my local sports centre. The pain persisted and he suggested visiting a chiropractor so I scanned the Yellow Pages. The first visit was uneventful; the second was catastrophic. After a gut-wrenching ‘crack’ as he manipulated my neck, I suddenly felt dizzy, sick and couldn’t see properly or speak. He left the room and came back with a GP. At this point I started to vomit and they called an ambulance.”

A tear in her vertebral artery which had caused a clot to form. As her condition deteriorated in hospital she had a stroke and underwent emergency brain surgery to save her life.

Denoon has had to abandon her career as an insurance claims negotiator. Legal action to sue the chiropractor for compensation failed because there was no evidence that he had been negligent in his treatment.

Denoon has recently set up a website, Action for Victims of Chiropractic (www.chirovictims.org.uk) which has attracted similar cases.

You can check a chiropractor’s registration with the GCC: www.gcc-uk.org; 0845 6011796

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