Chiropractic is an alternative form of health care. Just like our counterparts in medicine and osteopathy, we examine patients and we provide a diagnosis. The difference is how we treat the patients. Medical doctors will use prescription drugs (pharmaceuticals) and/or perform surgery. Chiropractors focus primarily on spinal adjustments and treating the back as the cause of a lot of diseases.
Do chiropractors believe in drugs?
Chiropractors focus on spinal adjusting and treating the different forms of joint dysfunction or subluxation in the spine. If we examine a patient, come to a diagnosis and realize that that patient will not respond to the care that we can deliver, we are obligated to send them to a medical doctor for prescription drugs or for another opinion. So it’s a matter of will this patient require a prescription or can we fix the problem alone through chiropractic care.
What is a subluxation?
It is primarily a chiropractic term. A loose translation or definition would be something less than a dislocation in a joint. The premise of chiropractic is that the joints within the spinal column become hypomobile, they don’t move as much or they get stuck out of position. The chiropractic adjustment is an attempt to restore the normal motion between those joints and in theory restores health and neural function of that patient’s body.
Do chiropractors straighten the spine?
No. Chiropractic is meant to normalize or balance the spine. What we do is keep the spine mobile so it’s able to move properly. Otherwise if those joints get stuck, it can lead to soreness in the muscles and joints, and that’s usually what brings the patient in to the chiropractor’s office in the form of back pain. The intent is not to straighten the spine but to normalize or balance it so the patient can through their everyday routine with no pain.
Are chiropractors 'real' doctors?
Yes chiropractors are real doctors. The difference in the educational process is probably only in how patients are treated. Chiropractors, medical students, and osteopathic students all go through the same basic science courses- chemistry, anatomy, physiology, and histology, because the human body is the same whether you’re a chiropractor or a medical doctor. The difference is how we treat patients. Medical doctors will have more time spent in pharmacology learning about drugs, drug interactions and what drugs are appropriate for what diseases. Chiropractors spend more of their time doing the manual therapies, the adjusting courses, some of the physical therapy modalities, exercise and rehab. So the basic science and clinical sciences including the diagnosis portions are about the same. The difference is medical students focus more on pharmacy and surgery while chiropractic students focus on more rehabilitative techniques and spinal adjusting.
---Visit this website to see a comparison of the DC and MD curricula: http://www.drgrisanti.com/mddc.htm
