I am interested in going to school to become a chiropractor here in the US, but I am worried about the legitimacy of the practice.
I am really interested in helping with musculoskeletal pains and injuries, since as an avid lifting enthusiast this is something I've dealt with in the past.
I first looked into going to physical therapy school, but found that chiropractor programs have half the workload and cost 100% less, due in part to the lower payout and lower standards of admittance.
tl;dr what are your thoughts on being a chiropractor, and please share your experiences with chiropractors
note: I am only focused on the actual practice of helping with things like spine realignment and back/hip/joint pain, none of the hollistic Chinese pseudoscience garbage
>>36451581
> interested in helping with musculoskeletal pains and injuries
>
I first looked into going to physical therapy school, but found that chiropractor programs have half the workload and cost 100% less
Do you want to help people, or do you want half the workload? You can't have both.
>>36451581
Chiros make bank. Stop giving a shit about ethics and just squeeze the suckers for all they're worth.
>>36451581
Here's some info from the one of the few useful bureaus from my government
http://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/chiropractors.htm
Basically, you're gonna get fucked over because chiropractics is a meme
There's a reason that chiropractors are not certified through their states medical board.
Scientifically, it's about as beneficial as massage, and massage has never paralyzed anyone. Touch has legitimate healing properties, but chiropractics is about as scientific as acupuncture.
>>36451581
Wait, you need to go to school in order to become a quack in the US? Is this bureaucracy gone mad?
>>36451581
I wouldn't advise it if you are worried about the legitimacy of the research etc. I am in my final year of physio and I think that physios use a more logical and evidence (science) based approach than chiros. A lot of the stuff in both fields is based on theories that were developed and implemented into practice before they were actually studied in trials etc.
I have been very interested in looking at the research behind the techniques used in physio (and good chiropractors use similar methods these days), and I think that the impact that you can have on someone through manual therapy (pressing on different parts of the spine in different ways) is actually rather limited, particularly for back and neck pain. The placebo side of things and the way that you talk to patients (biopsychosocial model) about their beliefs regarding pain etc is actually a large part of the treatment. Not to say that manual therapy is completely ineffective - but the most up to date research suggests that the way that manual therapy works is almost certainly not through physically 're-aligning' some tissue (bone, muscles, capsule, whatever), but more likely through the brain's perception of pain etc.
If you were to choose between physio and chiro, I would recommend physio for sure, because it allows you to treat other body areas (tendinopathies, post-surgery patients etc), as well as to work in other areas outside musculoskeletal (neurological patients etc..). Therefore, physio gives you more scope/career possibilities.
In both chiro and physio though, I would highlight that the career progression/increase in respect/remuneration as you become more senior is somewhat limited (outside of starting your own business). Which is something that I would advise you to be very wary of before signing up for either - that is if you want to continue to be challenged/'move up the ladder' over the course of your career.
Hope that helped...
there are quack chiropractors who will say that aligning your spine will cure allergies and help you lose weight
then there are legit DCs who are just there for spinal and hip pain relief
a good DC will never try to take the place of a physician but rather supplement their work
the most honest and IMHO interesting chiropractic work you can do is in sports medicine and preventative injury therapy
>>36451581
Study Physiotherapy instead
>>36451786
terrible advice
OP can just be a quack and still make good dosh as a chiro with way easier school and half the cost
wtf is wrong with you fucking faggots and your shitty "morals"