Strokes Due to Chiropractic Cervical Manipulation

Chiropractic Education

 As noted in other sections of this article, chiropractic operates outside of mainstream science. It is taught in small independent schools, usually called colleges, although some have changed their names to include the word "university." In the U.S., there are 15 D.C. programs in 18 locations. These are not universities in the traditional academic sense, and there is little research done at these colleges, although that has changed in the recent past at some schools. Some states require a four-year undergraduate degree for licensing, a recent addition to the requirements, but most do not and no chiropractic school requires an undergraduate degree. Unlike law, medicine, nursing and dentistry, for example, there is no admissions test (not even the Graduate Record Exam required for entry into university masters programs) and only a 2.5 GPA is required. Schools generally require that applying students have a certain number of hours in basic sciences, such as biology and chemistry, but unlike, for example, nursing and medicine, those courses can be the introductory "survey" type courses, and not upper level.

Schools usually run continuously, so that a student can join the program in any quarter. Chiropractic college usually takes 13 quarters. Most of the classes are lecture based and clinical education consists, for the most part, of learning to detect subluxations and various adjustive techniques, and takes place in school-based clinics. There are classes in anatomy, physiology, chemistry and other basic sciences, but also in marketing and chiropractic "philosophy."

Many chriopractors have a philosophically-based bias against vaccination, and their education usually reflects this view, even though they have no training in pharmacology. There is little training (usually a few classroom hours) in specialties like pediatrics and geriatrics. Most importantly, there is no residency requirement following chiropractic college. There is a national exam required by all states, and some states have additional requirements. Upon getting a D.C. degree, passing the national exam, and getting a licence, a chiropractor can go straight into practice after chiropractic college. Chiropractors can legally treat, for example, pediatric patients, pregnant women (although not practice obstetrics) and geriatric patients, without ever having seen this type of patient in a clinical setting.

Chiropractors have recently begun establishing themselves as “specialists” in such areas as pediatrics, radiology and neurology. These specialties are taught in a continuing education type format consisting of weekend courses of various lengths (sometimes over a few years). At the end of these courses, the chiropractor is entitled to use the term "Fellow." The advertising of such specialties is prohibited in some states.

The accrediting agency for chiropractic colleges is the Council on Chiropractic Education (CCE), which is sanctioned as such by the U.S. Department of Education. Much is made of this fact, although if one reviews the Department's requirements, they are not substantial and self-governance, with little Department oversight, is the rule.

One should not assume that the quality or quantity of education is the same as that required of an M.D., D.O., A.R.N.P., or a physical therapist providing care for the same condition. Some chiropractors and chiropractic literature demonstrate a belief that evidence for a particular diagnosis or therapy exists when the same conclusion would not be reached on generally accepted scientific principals.

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2009 Jann Johnson Bellamy, J.D., (jbellamy@alternativemedsafety.org), Campaign for Alternative Medicine Consumer Safety. Reprinted by The Abelson Law Firm with permission. Further reproduction prohibited without permission of the author.