Choosing Chiropractic as a Career
There are many who have opinions as to whether you should consider a career in chiropractic, but few who have been on the "inside" for 30 years and can give you a first-hand reporting of what you can expect. Usually, anything written about chiropractic as a career is from a promotional piece produced by a chiropractic college trying to convince you to go to their school. Please understand that I have no affiliation with any school, institution or other similar entity and this article represents my personal experiences and what you can likely expect with a chiropractic career. I am going to give you a snapshot of my journey and hope this will be helpful in determining if chiropractic is a career for you.
Becoming a chiropractor was a difficult, yet easy decision for me. When in college, I knew I wanted to be a doctor, but my decision was guided by a powerful desire to be able to help people get well without the use of drugs or surgery. I wasn’t against that avenue and had the opportunity to take the medical route, but I always felt there could be a better alternative, which became my deciding factor.
At the end of 30 years in the profession, I can attest that I have helped people with neck and back pain. I have also helped people who have regained their hearing and eradicated their asthma. I have helped many conceive when they couldn’t previously, overcome gall bladder and intestinal issues, migraines, menstrual cramps, attention deficit disorders and a whole host of other maladies. At the same time, I have referred multitudes to the medical profession for help with a similar list of issues. As the proverb goes, it takes a village to raise a child. It also takes a village or team of professionals to help a community. There is a time and place for every type of doctor and I have shared with my patients over the years the sequence of health care is: drugless first, drugs second and surgery last.
30 years ago, there was little to no research about chiropractic and the care rendered by the profession. Unlike medicine, chiropractic has had minimal to NO funding, either from the Federal Government or private industry to demonstrate what patients who have the positive results from chiropractic treatment have been claiming for over 100 years. In spite of the lack of research, chiropractic has thrived because of one thing; RESULTS. Simply, it works.
Today, there is research available that explains what we do and the results that we get. If you go to http://uschirodirectory.com/index.php/patient-information, you will find a litany of research synopses on chiropractic care and the conditions we treat. Science is now catching up with the results patients have been reporting for those 100 years. The reason this is important is that when I had to make my decision to choose chiropractic as a career, I had to go on faith more than hard evidence and I spent time speaking to patients who had experienced chiropractic care; you do not have to do that.
While practicing, my favorite time of the week was always Monday morning because I got to go to work for a whole uninterrupted week. I also equally liked the weekends and spending time with my family, but when communicating with my friends who chose medicine as a career, I found I had a lot more fun. Every day patients would come in and thank me and that rarely happens in any profession.
Chiropractic is based on removing subluxations (nerve interference) and stabilizing the spine so the nerve interference does not come back. It’s just like when you sit with your legs crossed and your foot falls asleep because the brain talks to the foot through the nerve. When a bone in your spine goes out of position and gets stuck, the area the nerve feeds will not work properly, similar to the foot example. Whether the area the nerve feeds is your back or neck muscles, you will have spasms and pain. If the nerve feeds the lungs, you could have a hard time breathing because the lungs have both “turn on and turn off” nerves and which nerve is being affected will dictate the problem. The same issues occur with the stomach, reproductive organs, intestines, heart and every other organ in your body.
The brain has to communicate with skin, muscles and organs, and the chiropractor’s role is to remove the nerve interference by mechanical or manual means. The method of making the correction is called a “chiropractic adjustment” and is a relatively safe, non-painful treatment. To give a reality to the safety of chiropractic, our malpractice premiums are in the $5,000 range, while that of a family doctor is approximately $80,000 and a neurosurgeon’s is in the $300,000 range.
Do chiropractors make a lot of money? The answer is yes and no. Similar to family medical practitioners, there are those who make a lot of money and those who do not. It is very dependent on the individual; the better business person you are the more money you will make. It is not uncommon for a private practitioner to net over $100,000 per year with many making well into 7 figures. It is also not uncommon to make only $50,000 per year.
Most insurance covers chiropractic, including car accident and on the job insurance, and the current trend is for chiropractors to have a “concierge” practice (similar to medicine) and be cash based. A chiropractic education is a doctoral degree where the first 2 years, we study the same sciences as medical doctors, dentist and osteopaths. The last few years when we learn how to get patients healthy without the use of drugs and surgery; that includes a clinical rotation.
At the end of this article are the addresses and links to every chiropractic college in the world.1 Please go there to learn more about the specifics of a chiropractic education.
I could have been a neurosurgeon, a cardio-thoracic surgeon or any other specialist I wanted to be. Today, I teach and consult doctors and lawyers nationally on spine, trauma and accident issues because over my last 30 years, I had the most fun for me. Chiropractic has allowed me to do that. Most of my colleagues and friends will never give up active treatment of patients. Where else could you go to work every day and have people thank you, sincerely, for changing their lives in such a powerful and positive way? After 30 years and looking back, I wouldn’t change a thing.
AUSTRALIA
RMIT University Melbourne School of Chiropractic, Osteopathy and Complementary Medicine
Plenty Road,
Bundoora, Victoria 3083
Australia
Phone: 61-3-9468-2440 Fax: 61-3-9467-2794
Macquarie University Centre for Chiropractic
Suite 222, Building E7A
N.S.W. 2109
Australia
Phone: 61-2-9850-9380 Fax: 61-2-9850-9389
BRAZIL
Aspeur/Feevale
Rua Emillo Hauschild
70-Villa Nova
Caixa postal 2121
Novo Hamburgo
RS-CEP 93525.180
Brazil
Phone: 55-51-594-2122 Fax: 55-51-594-7977
CANADA
Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College
6100 Leslie Street
Toronto, ON M2H 3J1
Canada
Phone: 416-482-2340 or 1-800-463-2923
Fax: 416-646-1114
Université Du Québec À Trois-Rivières – School of Chiropractic
P. O. Box 500, 3351
Des Forges Blvd.
Trois-Rivieres, Quebec G9A 5H7
Canada
Phone: 819-376-5186 Fax: 819-376-5084
DENMARK
University of Southern Denmark
Campusvej 55
DK-5230 Odense M
Denmark
Contact person: Gitte Tønner, student adviser, clinical biomechanics.
Phone: +45 6550 2978
E-mail: git@adm.sdu.dk
FRANCE
French Chiropractic Institute (Institut Franco-Européen de Chiropratique)
24 boulevard Paul Vaillant Couturier,
94200 Ivry sur Seine
France
Phone: 33-01-45-15-8910 Fax: 33-01-45-15-8911
JAPAN
Tokyo College of Chiropractic
6-20-11 Shimbashi, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-0004
Japan
Phone: 81-3-3437-6907 Fax: 81-3-5401-0956
KOREA
HanSeo University, Dept. of Chiropractic
360 Daegok-ri Haemi-myun Seosan-si
Chuncheongnam-do, Korea 356-706
Phone: 82-41-660-1875 Fax: 82-41-660-1098
NEW ZEALAND
New Zealand College of Chiropractic
15 Margot St
Newmarket, Auckland
New Zealand
PO Box 113-044
Newmarket, Auckland
New Zealand
Phone: 64-9-522-5530 Fax: 64-9-522-5534
SOUTH AFRICA
Technikon Natal
Nattechnikon 6-20187
953 Durban 4000
South Africa
Phone: 27-31-224153 Fax: 27-31-223632
E-mail: gtill@umfolozi.ntech.ac.za
Technikon Witwatersrand
P. O. Box 17011
Doorntonetein 2028, JHB
South Africa
Phone: 27-40-62911 Fax: 27-40-20475
E-mail: gtill@umfolozi.ntech.ac.za
UNITED KINGDOM
Anglo-European College of Chiropractic
13-15 Parkwood Road
Bournemouth, Bh5 2DF
United Kingdom
Phone: +44(0)1202-436275 or 436-200 Fax: +44(0)1202-436312
E-mail: principal@aecc-chiropractic.ac.uk
Mctimoney Chiropractic College
The Clock House
22-26 Ock Street
Abingdon, Oxfordshire, OX14 5SH
United Kingdom
Phone: +44(0)1235-523336 Fax: +44(0)1235-523255
E-mail: college@mctimoney.i-way.co.uk
University of Glamorgan School of Applied Sciences
Pontypridd, Wales, CF37 1DL
United Kingdom
Phone: +44(0)1443-480480 Fax: +44(0)1443-480558
University of Surrey European Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (EIHMS)
Duke of Kent Building
Guildford, Surrey
GU 2 5XT
United Kingdom
Tel: +44(0)1483-259347 Fax: +44(0)1483-259511
E-mail: sems@surrey.ac.uk
USA
Cleveland Chiropractic College – Kansas City
10850 Lowell Ave.
Overland Park, KS 66210
United States of America
Phone: 800-467-CCKC Fax: 913-234-0906
Cleveland Chiropractic College – Los Angeles
590 N. Vermont Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90004
United States of America
Phone: 800-466-CCLA Fax: 323-906-2094
Life University College of Chiropractic
1269 Barclay Circle
Marietta, GA 30060
United States of America
Phone: 800-543-3202 or 770-426-2884 Fax: 770-426-2895
Life Chiropractic College West
25001 Industrial Boulevard
Hayward, CA 94545
United States of America
Phone: 510-780-4500 Fax: 510-780-4525
Logan College of Chiropractic
P. O. Box 1065 1851 Schoettler Road
Chesterfield, MO 63006-1065
United States of America
Phone: 800-533-9210 Fax: 636-207-2425
National University of Health Sciences
200 E. Roosevelt Road
Lombard, IL 60148
United States of America
Phone: 630-629-2000
New York Chiropractic College
2360 State Rt. 89 P. O. Box 800
Seneca Falls, NY 13148-0800
United States of America
Phone: 315-568-3000 Fax: 315-568-3015
Northwestern Health Sciences University
2501 West 84th Street
Bloomington, MN 55431
United States of America
Phone:952-888-4777 Fax: 952-888-6713
Palmer College of Chiropractic, Davenport Campus
1000 Brady Street
Davenport, IA 52803
United States of America
Phone: 800-722-3648 Fax: 563-884-5414
Palmer College of Chiropractic, Florida Campus
4705 Clyde Morris Boulevard
Port Orange, FL 32129-4103
United States of America
Phone: 866-585-9677 Fax: 386-756-7483
Palmer College of Chiropractic, West Campus
90 East Tasman Drive
San Jose, CA 95134
United States of America
Phone: 866-303-7939 Fax: 408-944-6032
Parker College of Chiropractic
2500 Walnut Hill Lane
Dallas, TX 75229
United States of America
Phone: 800-438-6932 (GET-MYDC)
Sherman College of Chiropractic
P. O. Box 1452
Spartanburg, SC 29304
United States of America
Phone: (Toll free) 800-849-8777 (Local) 864-578-8770
Fax: 864-599-4859
Southern California University of Health Sciences
16200 E. Amber Valley Drive
Whittier, CA 90609
United States of America
Texas Chiropractic College
5912 Spencer Highway
Pasadena, TX 77505
United States of America
Phone: 713-487-1170 Fax: 713-487-4168
University of Bridgeport, College of Chiropractic
75 Linden Ave.
Bridgeport, CT 06601
United States of America
Phone: 203-576-4278 Fax: 203-576-4483
Western States Chiropractic College
2900 N.E. 132nd Ave.
Portland, OR 97230
United States of America
Phone: 503-256-3180 Fax: 503-251-5723