Question
why do many MDs not recognize when a patient needs chiropractic?  How do they view chiropractors?

Answer
More and more, medical doctors do acknowledge the benefits of chiropractic, refer to chiropractic doctors, and even share the same office with them.  However, many MDs still are ignorant about what chiropractors do and how they can help, and some are still hostile.  The main reason for this is that they learn nothing about chiropractic in medical school, and like many lay people only know about what we do third-hand or not at all.

Also, the medical profession has a long history of antagonism towards chiropractic, dating back to the 1950s and 60s when the American Medical Association (AMA) formed a "Committee on Quackery" for the express purpose of seeking to eliminate the chiropractic profession.  They spread much disinformation and outright lies.  In the 1970s, a group of 4 chiropractors sued the AMA in federal court for anti-trust violations against chiropractic, and after an arduous 13 year legal battle that reached the Supreme Court, the chiropractors won and the AMA was forced to send a firstclass letter to every MD in the U.S. saying that chiropractic was a viable profession and that it was ethical for MDs to refer to chiropractors.  The fallout from those years of "slander" still reverberates in the minds of many MDs...but slowly things change...And much scientific research has documented the many benefits of chiropractic care.