[pc86]

I think a more important question is whether or not a layperson should be evaluating technical literature on their own at all. I'm wholly uneducated and unprepared to evaluate even simple medical literature, so I find a doctor who I trust and who can explain why they do the things they do.

There is an idea, especially here in the US, and especially over the last 10-15 years, that you can just "do your own research" and come to correct conclusions about things that have been studied for decades or centuries. You can't. If you want to do it for your own edification, or because it's interesting, by all means. But please not for making real decisions that have a real impact.

[jwally]

Honest question. If your back hurt and your primary-care-physician recommended you see a chiropractor but you saw on wikipedia that chiropractic is pseudoscience with a risk of injury; how would you proceed?

[pc86]

This is a good question, and I'm a little biased in that I do think chiropractic is pseudoscience as medical treatment, but it also feels really good. So I go every once in a while the same way I do with a massage.

I would just tell them my concerns and either ask for why they think that would help, or maybe get a second opinion? It's hard to say for sure.