Training to be a Doctor of Chiropractic takes a minimum of seven years. Three of those years are completed at university prior to the final four, postgraduate, years at a Chiropractic college.
A sample of courses covered includes:
- Anatomy
- Physiology
- Pathology
- Neurology
- Biomechanics
- X-ray
- Spinal Adjusting Techniques
A commonly asked question: "What is the difference
between the training of Chiropractic and Medical Physicians, since both
go to school for the same number of years?"
The first two years' training for both disciplines are "twin" with regard
to basic science instruction (eg. Anatomy, Physiology, Pathology, etc.),
with Medical students spending more study time on the immune system,
while Chiropractic students concentrate more on the musculoskeletal
system (how our muscles and bones work.)
The final two years training for Medical students concentrate primarily on the study of diseases (viruses and bacteria), while Chiropractic students concentrate on biomechanics and how to correctly apply spinal adjusting techniques.
It might interest you to know that all the basic Science courses taught at Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College in Toronto, Canada's longest-established Chiropractic college, are taught by University of Toronto professors who teach the same courses to the medical students. Because of the long training period required to correctly perform spinal manipulation (adjusting), only Chiropractors should be applying these techniques as part of a patient's treatment.