In 2005, the state Board of Chiropractic Examiners cracked down on two chiropractors for using a technique known as "Network."

Practitioners of Network Spinal Analysis claim that gentle touches to the spine create healing waves that result in everything from fewer cold symptoms to a better sex life.

" 'Network' is not ... taught in any Board- approved chiropractic college," the chiropractic board wrote to one of the two, Redding chiropractor Robert Smith. "Accordingly, you must immediately cease and desist from the practice of 'Network.' "

But with a simple Internet search, the board could have found that Smith and Charles Sanders of Anaheim were far from the only ones offering Network. The Web site for the Association of Network Care even lists a national directory that includes 67 California practitioners.

What's more, Smith and Sanders, who received the board letters two years ago, still advertise Network on their Web sites.

Smith told The Bee that he was shocked when he got into trouble for doing something that is common among his colleagues. He said he continued to offer the technique because lawyers from the Association of Network Care told him the board had no legal basis for further discipline.

That disconnect underscores a fundamental truth about the board: Its complaint-driven approach to regulation leads to inconsistencies, where some chiropractors are sanctioned for practices that others continue unnoticed.

The board in October 2006 filed a formal accusation against Los Angeles chiropractor Christine Anderson for practices including homeopathy, claiming that chiropractic adjustments help the immune system, offering such treatments as "neuro-emotional technique" and "surface electromyography" and maintaining that she can help prevent breech births.

Anderson, who declined to comment on the pending case against her, faces discipline that could include suspension or revocation of her license if an administrative law judge and the board find that it is warranted.

Yet, each of Anderson's claims can easily be found on the Internet, made by other California chiropractors. Ventura chiropractor Michael Roth, for example, dedicates an entire page of his site to neuro-emotional technique.

"Practitioners use muscle testing to isolate a troubling emotional event, then ask the patient to hold a snapshot in his or her mind of their emotional state while lightly adjusting their spine," Roth's Web site explains.

In an interview, Roth said he "is not aware that there's anything off" about the Web site, adding that he has never been contacted by the board about it.

The Web offers plenty of examples of California chiropractors who treat animals, too, even though the board sent cease-and-desist letters to several chiropractors for practicing on animals without a supervising veterinarian. One site advertises eight chiropractors offering such services to horses; only one of the eight received a board letter.

A state regulation declares it unprofessional conduct for a chiropractor to claim that spinal manipulation can substitute for vaccinations.

But a couple of minutes on the Internet unearths California chiropractors who rail against the dangers of vaccines, many advocating that spinal treatment works better.

Newport Beach chiropractor Bill DeMoss says on his Web site that vaccines have been linked to developmental disabilities and sudden infant death syndrome. DeMoss said Friday that his site does not offer chiropractic treatment as a substitute for vaccinations.

But the site says that polio and other diseases already were waning before vaccines were introduced and points out that parents can get exemptions from vaccination requirements when their children enter school.

"The chiropractic spinal adjustment permits your child's body to restore itself to a greater level of health and wholeness," DeMoss says on the site, at the end of the section on vaccinations.

DeMoss' site does not stop with immunizations, either. It also includes claims that spinal treatment can help allergy sufferers and bedwetters, boost overall immunity and ease pregnancy. Newborns should have their spines checked right away, the Web site advises, and five more times in the first year of life.