Mississippi Code
Miss. Code Ann. § 73-6-1 (2026)
[Repealed Effective 7/1/2026] Practice of chiropractic; definitions; qualifications; limitations on practice; standard of care; animal chiropractic treatment
✓ current as of July 2026
- (1) The practice of chiropractic involves the analysis of any interference with normal nerve transmission and expression, and the procedure preparatory to and complementary to the correction thereof, by adjustment and/or manipulation of the articulations of the vertebral column and for the restoration and maintenance of health without the use of drugs or surgery.
- (2) The chiropractic adjustment and/or manipulation of the articulations of the human body may include manual adjustments and/or manipulations and adjustments and/or manipulations by means of electrical and/or mechanical manual devices. Chiropractors licensed under this chapter may also use in conjunction with adjustments and/or manipulations of the spinal structures electrical therapeutic modalities which induce heat or electrical current beneath the skin, including therapeutic ultrasound, galvanism, diathermy and electromuscular stimulation and other procedures taught by a chiropractic college approved by the Council on Chiropractic Education, its successor or an equivalent accrediting agency.
- (3) Chiropractors licensed under this chapter may utilize those electric therapeutic modalities described in subsection (2) of this section only after the chiropractor has completed a course of study containing a minimum of one hundred twenty (120) hours of instruction in the proper utilization of those procedures in accordance with the guidelines set forth by the Council on Chiropractic Education, its successor or an equivalent accrediting agency, and is qualified and so certified in that proper utilization.
- (4) Chiropractors shall not prescribe or administer medicine to patients, perform surgery, practice obstetrics or osteopathy. Chiropractors shall be authorized to recommend, dispense or sell vitamins or food supplements.
- (5) Chiropractors shall not use venipuncture, capillary puncture, acupuncture or any other technique which is invasive of the human body either by penetrating the skin or through any of the orifices of the body or through the use of colonics.
- (6) A person professing to practice chiropractic for compensation must bring to the exercise of that person's profession a reasonable degree of care and skill. Any injury resulting from a want of such care and skill shall be a tort for which a recovery may be had. If a chiropractor performs upon a patient any act authorized to be performed under this chapter but which act also constitutes a standard procedure of the practice of medicine including, but not limited to, the use of modalities such as those described in subsection (2) of this section and x-rays, under similar circumstances, the chiropractor shall be held to the same standard of care as would licensed doctors of medicine who are qualified to and who actually perform those acts under similar conditions and like circumstances.
- (7) Chiropractors licensed under this chapter are authorized to refer patients to licensed physical therapists for treatment.
- (8) Doctors of chiropractic medicine may respond on a referral basis and under the direct and immediate supervision of a Mississippi licensed veterinarian to calls for animals requiring their professional services provided the chiropractor has a current license from the State Board of Chiropractic Examiners and the chiropractor has completed a Mississippi Board of Veterinary Medicine approved animal chiropractic course.
Laws, 1973, ch. 501, § 1; reenacted, Laws, 1983, ch. 448, § 1; Laws, 1989, ch. 387, § 1; reenacted, Laws, 1991, ch. 350, § 1; reenacted and amended, Laws, 1997, ch. 428, § 1; Laws, 1997, ch. 581, § 3; reenacted without change, Laws, 2001, ch. 409, § 1; Laws, 2003, ch. 400, § 1; reenacted without change, Laws, 2006, ch. 515, § 1; reenacted and amended, Laws, 2011, ch. 323, § 1, eff. 6/30/2011.
Reenacted without change by Laws, 2021, ch. 304, HB 73,§ 1, eff. 7/1/2021.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 8
cases, 1978–2001 · leading case: McCaffrey v. Puckett, 784 So. 2d 197 (Miss. 2001).
McCaffrey v. Puckett, 784 So. 2d 197 (Miss. 2001). “Miss.Code Ann. § 73-6-1(1) (2000), defines the practice of chiropractic as follows: "[t]he practice of chiropractic involves the analysis of any interference with normal nerve transmission and expression, and the procedure preparatory to and complementary to the correction…”
State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Gregg, 526 So. 2d 554 (Miss. 1988). “Admittedly, the treatments and services rendered by Teas were within the scope of lawful chiropractic practice as defined in Miss. Code Ann. § 73-6-1 (1972). Teas had no right to practice medicine or surgery, nor did he have the right as a physician or to prescribe drugs or to…”
Miss. Farm Bureau Mut. Ins. Co. v. Garrett, 487 So. 2d 1320 (Miss. 1986). “1985) "Practice of Chiropractic" defined: The practice of chiropractic involves the analysis of any interferences with normal nerve transmission and expression, and the procedure preparatory to and complementary to the correction thereof, by an adjustment of the articulation of…”
Norville v. Miss. State Med. Ass'n, 364 So. 2d 1084 (Miss. 1978). “The question remains, however, whether such use is protected or allowed under the Chiropractic Licensing Statute, Mississippi Code Annotated section 73-6-1 to 73-6-31 (Supp. 1977). Section 73-6-1 defines the practice of chiropractic as: The practice of chiropractic involves the…”
White v. Hattiesburg Cable Co., 590 So. 2d 867 (Miss. 1991). “1986); recognized by statute, Miss. Code Ann. § 73-6-1 ; with a state board, Miss.”
Foster v. Georgia Bd. of Chiropractic Examiners, 359 S.E.2d 877 (Ga. 1987). “1978), the Mississippi Supreme Court was called upon to interpret Mississippi’s Chiropractic Licensing Statute, Miss. Code Ann. § 73-6-1 , which provided, in pertinent part, that, “[t]he practice of chiropractic involves the analysis of any interference with normal nerve…”
Norville v. Com. Union Ins., 690 F. Supp. 558 (S.D. Miss. 1988). “Section 83-41-215 provides: Whenever any policy of insurance or any medical service plan or hospital service contract or hospital and medical service contract issued in this state provides for reimbursement for any service which is within the lawful scope of practice of a duly…”
Timothy McCaffrey v. Kim A. Puckett (Miss. 1998). “Miss. Code Ann. § 73-6-1 (1) (2000), defines the practice of chiropractic as follows: "[t]he practice of chiropractic involves the analysis of any interference with normal nerve transmission and expression, and the procedure preparatory to and complementary to the correction…”
— Miss. Code Ann. § 73-6-1(1) — 1 case
McCaffrey v. Puckett, 784 So. 2d 197 (Miss. 2001). “Miss.Code Ann. § 73-6-1(1) (2000), defines the practice of chiropractic as follows: "[t]he practice of chiropractic involves the analysis of any interference with normal nerve transmission and expression, and the procedure preparatory to and complementary to the correction…”
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