A chiropractic college grants a D.C. or Doctorate of
Chiropractic degree. Chiropractors are licensed as health care providers in
every U.S.
state and dozens of countries around the world. While the competition for
acceptance in chiropractic school is not as fierce as medical school, the
chiropractic and medical school curricula are extremely rigorous and virtually
identical. In fact, chiropractors have more hours of classroom education than
their medical counterparts. As part of their education, chiropractic students
also complete a residency working with real patients in a clinical setting,
supervised by licensed doctors of chiropractic.
Once chiropractic students graduate, they have to pass
four sets of national board exams as well as state board exams in the states
where they want to practice. Just like medical doctors, chiropractors are
professionals that are subject to the same type of testing procedures,
licensing and monitoring by state and national peer-reviewed boards. Federal
and state programs, such as Medicare, Medicaid, and Workers' Compensations
programs cover chiropractic care, and all federal agencies accept sick-leave
certificates signed by doctors of chiropractic.
The biggest difference between chiropractors and
medical doctors lies not in their level of education, but in their preferred
method of caring for people. Medical doctors are trained in the use of
medicines (chemicals that affect your internal biochemistry) and surgery.
Consequently, if you have a chemical problem, such as diabetes, hypothyroidism,
or an infection, medical doctors can be very helpful.
However, if your problem is that your spine is
mis-aligned or you have soft tissue damage causing pain, there is no chemical
in existence that can fix it. You need a physical solution to correct a
physical problem. That is where chiropractic really shines. Chiropractors
provide physical solutions -- adjustments, exercises, and stretches, muscle
therapy -- to help the body heal from conditions that are physical in origin,
such as back pain, muscle spasms, headaches, and poor posture.
Another distinction is the fact that it is completely
appropriate to receive chiropractic care even if you do not have symptoms.
Unlike standard medical doctors, whom you visit when you have a symptom to be
treated, chiropractors offer adjustments to improve spinal alignment and
overall well-being before symptoms develop.
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