Straight chiropractors adhere more to philosophical principles and are based on the idea that the subluxation is the cause of disease. Straight Chiropractors believe subluxation interferes with an "innate intelligence" and by correcting the subluxation, they remove nerve interference, allowing the body to heal itself. Straights view patient complaints as "secondary effects" and unneccessary for treatment. They do not "mix" other therapies and are more concerned with detection and correction of a subluxation.  I must say that interexaminer reliability of this detection is poor at best.

Mixer chiropractors "mix" treatment approaches from osteopathic, medical, and chiropractic. Mixers believe subluxation is only one of many causes of disease, not the primary risk factor. They consider medical diagnostics and use different types of treatment like electric stimulation, exercise, stretching, massage, ice packs, and moist heat. They also consider incorporating nutritional supplements, acupuncture, homepathy, and herbal remedies. Unlike straight chiropractors, mixers are open to mainstream medicine.

The majority group are the mixer chiropractors, but some have belief in vertebral subluxation. A survey was done that asked what the percent of disorders of internal organs that subluxation contributed to, the mean response was 62%. I feel the main problem within the chiropractic profession is not our diversity, but our inability to agree on how to define a subluxation.  I believe that a subluxation is "a joint that has lost some of its' normal range of motion which results in altered biomechanical, neurological, and/or physiological function".  I do not believe that it is a bone out of place that causes nerve interference.  This concept has been disproven in many different ways.  I can't do pre and post adjustment x-rays and see a change in position.  However, I can adjust someone and see an immediate increase in joint range of motion.