Chiropractic is a branch of the healing arts which is concerned with human health and disease processes. Doctors of Chiropractic are physicians who consider man an integrated being and give special attention to the physiological and biochemical aspects, including structural, spinal, musculoskeletal, neurological, vascular, nutritional, emotional and environmental relationships.
The practice and procedures which may be employed by Doctors of Chiropractic are based on the academic and clinical training received in and through accredited chiropractic colleges and include, but are not limited to, the use of current diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. Such procedures specifically include the adjustment and manipulation of the articulations and adjacent tissues of the human body, particularly of the spinal column. Included is the treatment of intersegmental aberrations for alleviation of related functional disorders.
Chiropractic is a drug-free, nonsurgical science and, as such, does not include pharmaceuticals or incisive surgery. Due regard shall be given to the fact that state laws, as well as the nation's antitrust laws, may allow Doctors of Chiropractic to utilize ancillary health care procedures commonly referred to as being in the common domain.
Doctor of Chiropractic
Although chiropractors are first-contact physicians who possess the diagnostic skills to differentiate health conditions that are amenable to their management from those conditions that require referral or co-management. Chiropractors provide conservative management of neuromusculoskeletal disorders and related functional clinical conditions including, but not limited to, back pain, neck pain, fibromyalgia, plantar fasciitis, vertigo, sciatica, carpal tunnel, arthritis and headaches.
Chiropractors are expert providers of spinal and other therapeutic manipulation/adjustments. They also utilize a variety of manual, mechanical and electrical therapeutic modalities. Chiropractors also provide patient evaluation and instructions regarding disease prevention and health promotion through proper nutrition, exercise and lifestyle modification among others.
Educational Requirements To Be A Doctor Of Chiropractic
Have you ever wondered just how well-educated your chiropractor is? The facts may surprise you!
- Today's chiropractic physicians attend a four-year undergraduate program majoring in anatomy and physiology, biology or chemistry. Then they transfer into a graduate school of chiropractic to obtain five more years of graduate- level education and must complete an internship within a chiropractic facility before obtaining their doctoral degree.
- Once the degree requirements have been satisfactorily met, the doctor must then pass rigorous national and state written and practical exams before he or she can practice the healing art science of chiropractic.
- Only chiropractic concerns itself with the interrelationship of structure and body functions, and only chiropractic effectively utilizes natural, drugless methods of treatment, primarily spinal adjustments
- Doctors of chiropractic readily acknowledge that the early formative years of chiropractic education, like those of medicine, left much to be desired. But this is true of every science and every profession.
Look below at these typical basic educational requirements for medical school graduates as compared to those for Doctors of Chiropractic.
MEDICAL SUBJECT CHIROPRACTIC
Class Hours Class Hours