Are you laughing yet?

It was meant as a joke, but the scene from the CBS sitcom “Two and a Half Men” didn’t strike most chiropractors as funny.

The episode that aired on Monday, September 27, 2004 shows a chiropractor preparing to give a patient a rotary break, cupping the patient’s chin for stabilization. His ex-wife walks in and startles him and we hear a loud crunch. The punchline: the chiropractor later writes a check to pay for the pediatrician's orthopedist bill.

This isn’t the worst thing to happen to chiropractic, but it is annoying that the sitcom felt it necessary to get a laugh at our expense. Especially irritating was the fact that the “patient” was a pediatrician and the recourse was to go to an orthopedist.

Let’s all let CBS and the producers of this show know how we feel about this “joke.” Take a minute to write a short note explaining that, although our profession has a great sense of humor, we think the show should be more careful about implying that chiropractic care is dangerous or that an orthopedist is a smarter choice.