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doctor of chiropractics

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Q: What are the top colleges to become a doctor of chiropractic medice? What are the top chiropractic colleges?
I need to know where the best place to go to school would be to get my D.C.

A: At this time graduates of Chirpractic colleges earn the doctor of Chiropractic degree (DC), not a doctor of Chiropractic Medicine degree (DCM). The term medicine is often misleading in that Chiropractic, as is Allopathy (Western medicine), Osteopathy, Naturopathy and other health care forms are each a different form of medicine. I graduated from Cleveland Chiropractic College of Los Angeles in 1991, which had an outstanding out-patient clinic that prepared me for nearly all possible problems I have been asked to evaluate and treate, and feel it is one of the best in the world, not just the USA. All of the colleges which are CCE accredited are professional and have high standards. If you are interested in attending a Chiropractic college, it is important to consider the region you would prefer to live in while at school. If you are most interested in a traditional approach, then Palmer Chiropractic College in Davenport, Iowa, might be best.

Q: How is the job opportunity for doctor of chiropractic? Because I do not see a lot of job listings in the field
What is the basic differences between a physical therapist and a D.C? Which has more job opportunity? Is there a big difeerence in income level?

A: A DC traditionally focuses their practice on the treatment of the spine, but they have been known to see patients for extremity related disorders. A DCs most traditional method of treatment is manipulation, or “adjustment”…meaning they use a high velocity thrust technique to restore the joint to a normal position. However, DCs do focus on wellness and nutrition as well.

PT is much broader, seeing patients for a number of disorder. We see people not just for neck and back pain, but also for recovery after open heart surgery, stroke, knee surgery, etc. We use a much broader scope of techniques include stretching, strengthening, balance, gait training, massage, and manaul therapy. However, even when we consider treatment of the spine alone, the major difference between PTs and DCs is that PTs show the patient how they can help themselves, whereas the DC makes the patient depended on them for recovery. However, the more savy DCs incorperate rehabilitation into the program. We basically seek to do the same thing…restore the joint to a normal position, but how we do it differs.

As far as income, both can have big earning potentials…especially when we consider private practice. However, it is probably more of the norm for a DC to establish private practice whereas most PTs work for a clinic or hospital. I’ve known DCs who were earning about $40,000 a year as they struggled to establish their practice, but then eventually earned over $100,000 a year. Most PTs fall in the category of earning between $50-70,000 a year, but about 15% earn more than $100K.

Both careers are expected to grow much faster than average.

Q: What is better doctor to diagnose a back pain – MD or DC ?
What is better doctor to diagnose a back pain – Doctor of Medicine or Doctor of Chiropractic ?

A: Being a Doctor of Chiropractic, you would think i would vote for Chiropractic.

However, both are just as good as long as they look at all the causes. Your back pain is always a combination of a few minor issues including muscles and joints.

There are 4 main patterns that lead to back pain that arise from various postural changes in your pelvis and spine. All of these you can work out yourself easily (see http://www.back-pain-advisor.com).

If you think it is more severe, then you need to see your Medical Doctor as they can prescribe pain relief or refer to a specialist if they think you have something more serious.

But for 99% of people with back pain, it is minor and either a DC or MD are similar – it just depends on what treatment you wan t – medication or treatment.

Take care
Dr Graeme Teague

P.S But you can diagnose your own back pain easily enough.

Q: How do you find a MEDICAL DOCTOR (MD) who offers chiropractic adjustments?
I know, it’s an odd request, but it’s a loophole in my medical insurance plan: if I can find a medical doctor (MD), NOT a Doctor of Chiropractic(DC), who offers chiropractic adjustments, the specialist copays are considerably lower in my medical plan. I guess the idea here is to find someone who is a MD, yet also trained as a DC? Yeah, it’s a strange scenario.

The insurance company has no record of MDs who offer adjustments, so the only other alternative is to call EVERY SINGLE MD in the area who’s in the insurance plan and ask if they are also a DC and if they offer chiro adjustments. That’s just ridiculous, but that’s the kind of lunacy I’ve grown to expect from Blue C… er, better not name them here.

Anyone have any other ideas?

A: look for someone with DO after their name and not MD. DOs are doctors of osteopathy which is a doctor that can do all of the stuff that MDs do, but has training in manipulations as well. DOs should be covered by your insurance.

Q: Should I go to school to be a Doctor of Chiropractic or Doctor of Physical Therapy? Please help!?
Oh and by the way in response to the smart ass answer, I have done my research. If there are only stupid answers on here then why is this guy responding to everyone’s questions?

A: Asking a question like this on yahoo answers is going to get you a lot of stupid responses about the two professions. If you are really throwing up these two options then I suggest you do some good reading, and maybe visit a couple of each to find out about what they do, because its not really at all similar.

Me personally, I would do to the Chiropractic school, but this is only because thats what helped me with my own personal problem. And thats what most peoples opinions are going to be based on.

Find out some more about the professions and make an educated opinion, not just one based on what other people have told you.

Q: What do you think about the discussuin by this doctor of chiropractic and Cardiovascular Health?
I think it should be watched and can help all kinds of people of all ages live longer. What do you think of his concepts? I thought that each part had very valuable information that I really did not understand before completely.

http://www.thewellnessdoc.com/custom/dr.ungar/videos/video.asp?Video=cardiovascular&VideoPart=1

A: The information he provided can easily be obtained by picking up a good pathophysiology & biochemistry book. Interesting that he did not mention the genetic component of T2D. Lots of people are obese and do not have T2D yet majority of people who have T2D are overweight indicating a genetic and environmental component.

The chiro provided a great explanation of insulin, glucose and IR but then later said that insulin binds glucose? Insulin binds insulin receptors causing a range of actions one of which includes the translocation of GLUT4 to the surface membrane of adipocytes and myocytes. Good explanation though.

I agreed with the role of the food production companies however people need to start to demand ‘healthier’ options, low salt, less added sugar. Until the people start to demand this it will not occur (example is low fat products).

America, ‘we’re kinda a country of excess…’ ya think?

He had a very interesting spin on the role of cholesterol and atherosclerosis development, I would like to see the research that supports this view.

I would have liked to know more about what he advises for diet and exercise therapy. It is known that good exercise and diet can reverse T2D nothing to new there however, significant micro- and macrovascular damage has probably already occured unfortunatly. This highlights the importance of picking up pre-diabetic states such as impaired fasting glucose & impared glucose tolerance. I do agree that many physicians do not turn to diet and exericse which her refered to as ‘alternative’ medicine. It is a shame medications are usually the first option. Why don’t people ever get referred to a dietitian for diet changes, why does it have to be alternative medicine with supplements and herbs? Is it because people would prefer a quick fix instead of putting in the long term effort and getting the results?

Integrated health would be nice, more research into T2D would be nice, healthy food production would be nice as would preventative medicine.

I found an interesting article regarding insulin resistance
The Insulin Resistance Syndrome: definition and dietary approaches to treatment. G Reaven. Annu Rev Nutr 2005;25:391-406

Q: What is the best College for Doctor of Chiropractic in California (moreso southern – Los angeles area…)?
looking at becomming a chiropractor… and focusing on maybe Cleveland Chiropractic College or Southern California University of Health Sciences or life chiropractic college west (though the first two are preferable due to distance).

Just looking for recommendations of college’s and any advice! Thanks!

A: Hi there, good luck and congratulations in advance! I have a few friends that went to Cleveland and are doing great. That is the one that comes to my mind the quickest and am familiar with it because of them. I have also heard of SCUHS and have one friend in San Francisco that attended Life, so I think you are on the right track so far! I myself would probably choose Cleveland….No bones about it LOL! (But that’s just an opinion) However, check them all out before you commit….There are so many. Great profession….Good luck!

Q: Does the new GI Bill cover Doctor of Chiropractic Degree?
As i see it covers graduate and undergraduate degrees, and vocational/technical training, licensing and certification…. would it cover a 4 year Chiro college?

A: Chiropractic falls under graduate degree or “advanced degree.” Therefore, yes it does.

Q: I am a Doctor of Chiropractic looking for a way to market my holistic type practice, where could I do this?
I am located in the Denver area.

A: I gather you’re a new doctor? Like any other new doc, school didn’t teach you a darn thing about running a business, or they did a poor job at it. Chiropractic and family medicine is pretty much the same thing in terms of marketing. Get new patients. Here’s my experience running my practice in NYC, it may differ from yours.

I recommend that you pick up the book “Startup Guide to Guerrilla Marketing: A Simple Battle Plan for First-Time Marketers” It’s a very good book that tells you how to do proper marketing on a schedule. How to formulate a unique selling point/position. And how to go after these markets. So on and so forth.

Your best source of information would be your local Denver chiropractic association, or your Colorado Chiropractic association. Talk with the president and other board members. Talk with the local members. They have wealth of information on how they conduct marketing. The most important information to obtain is what has the best ROI in Denver, and what has the worst ROI.

Try hooking up with www.SCORE.org they can assign a mentor for you, one who’s experienced with entrepreneurship and marketing.

In general, yellow pages is the worst ROI, so don’t bother buying any space. Same with post cards, or welcome wagon. Ask your local chiropractic association, some local neighborhood newspapers may be a decent/good ROI. Or advertise in a holistic/health newspaper.

Join the chamber of commerce, BMI, Rotary, Lyons, Elk, and any other popular networking group in your area. Again, ask your local chiropractors to see what network group is worth joining and produces good ROI.

Advertise in your local health food/organic supermarket. Or go door to door and introduce to yourself to every local holistic type practitioner. Naturopaths, homeopaths, acupuncturists, chiropractors, massage therapists, medical doctors, Reiki or energy healers, so on and so forth.

Join whatever club or activity that interests you. Introduce yourself. Overtime, let people get to know you and then you can tell them more in detail what you do. People don’t like to be sold, that makes you like a used car salesman. Merely educate the patients. They’ll look up to you, curious and want to learn more, they’ll ask for a business card and come to your practice.

If there’s a volunteer activity, I recommend getting involved. Either through your church or your local chiropractic organization. Volunteering services always brings forth good feeling, brings exposure, and increases your marketing. Just once a month is sufficient.

One more thing. Setup a great website that’s dynamic, informative, and continually updating with latest relevant health information. This is one of your best ROI.

And of course, the best way to market is to do internal marketing. Ask for referrals. Once you’ve developed your marketing skills well enough, you should be able to obtain 3-5 new patients from each existing patient. And never shield away from the very difficult patient, sometimes they turn out to be the best patient. If you can manage to convince them and turn their health around, I wouldn’t be surprised to see 20 new patients.

Q: Physiotherapy and Chiropractics?
I want to major in physiotherapy and then go on to a college for chiropractics to become a Doctor of Chiropractics…how long would it take for me to accomplish both of these things? Or should I just focus on one?

A: In the US, PT programs result in either a masters or doctorate level degree…taking 6-7 years to complete. The DC of chiropratic usually is an 6-8 semester program or 10 trimesters, but the prerequisite level of courses may or may not require completion of the BS prior to admission (I would believe most require it at this stage).

Yet, one thing to consider is that the prerequiste course work may vary for both…therefore, you might not be able to complete your PT degree and then go right to school to complete the DC…you may have to take some courses that were different between PT and DC…something you may want to consider.

What is it the draws you to the DC? Is it just the hands on approach, or do you also enjoy the aspects of nutrition, etc? If you are more interested in the manual process, why not complete your PT degree, then enter a residency program for manual therapy…Grimsby Institute, Kaiser, Paris, etc. This will give you the basis for PT as well as the manual therapy degree with a more streamlined approach.

If you really enjoy seeing the patient for primary care approach and the emphasis on nutrition, then I would just go right for the DC…especially because most DCs and PTs tend to but heads anyway.

ADDENDUM: I should edit my answer…the DC program is typically 8-10 semester/trimeters at the GRADUATE level (such as national college of chiropractice)…I didn’t mean to imply that DCs receive less training than PTs…so yes, it does wind up being a 7-8 year process.

Q: What to do when Shadowing a Doctor?
In the near future I want to shadow a doctor, (a Doctor of Chiropractic) and I was wondering if there is anyone out there who has ever done this, and what to do, like taking notes, when I am observing the doctor.

A: Keep a small notebook and pen with you, but mostly observe what they do. Don’t write down things that you learn in your lectures anyway (aka the actual medical side of things) but more how the doctor treats people, or how they explain symptoms and treatments. In between appointments, ask the doctor any questions you have, and note down the answers – most doctors won’t mind talking to you at all, in fact it can be quite stress-relieving having someone to wind down on during the lull.

Additionally, try using the opportunity to get some hands-on experience with the subjects, and feel things that you’ve only read described in a textbook.

Hope that helps!

Q: How much should I get for pain and suffer?
I’ve seen seeing a chiropractic doctor for about 6 months now due to back and neck pain. I have an accident back in September 2009 and the other party was a fault. My chiropractic doctor just released me and sent a released form to the insurance. The totaled of my hospital bill is $2400. How much should I get for pain and suffer?

Add: back in that time, I was 4 months pregnant as well.

A: It all depends on the State Law. Some states require you meet a certain threshold before pain and suffering can be awarded. It can depend on the severity of the injury and whether it is considered long or short term. Also whether there was any broken bones. You need to talk to your local Insurance Agent.

Q: Can the doctor of Chiropractic do injection? Like Botox or anything?

A: generally a chiropractor doesn not do injections. But that does not mean he has not had the trainning to do so. Nurses and cna’s can give injections, so it does’nt take a whole lot of training. And as for the botox. I am not sure you even need a lisence. If you go to mexico everything is legal.

Q: doctor of chiropractic degree?
After obtaining a Bachelor’s degree, about how many years would it take to earn a DC?

A: Well all programs are either 4 or 5 academic years. In terms of hours they are usually a few hours more than MD school. Not all the chiro schools require a bachelor’s degree but all require at least 3 years college to apply. You can take no breaks and finish some chiro programs in 3 years to 3 and1/3 years I believe. Here is an excellent program. This school requires a bachelor’s degree.

http://www.nuhs.edu/show.asp?durki=508

Q: chiropractics? doctors? anyone who knows what wrong with my spine alignment!? PLEASE HELP!?
ok so as if i bend over, each little bump of my spine goes straight in line from bottom to top until right below my neck, one of those little bumps jults to the left and than the bump after that goes pretty much back in line with the rest. i have a certain pressure in this area that doesnt really go away and every now and then i get this STRANGE sensation, and it feels like some kind of neourological tie with the irregular spinal allignment! Anyone know what this is? or have had similar sensations..ADVICE PLEASEE!

A: U need to see a specialist (orthopedics) like now! u might need surgery, we can’t give u a diagnosis like this, u need mri’s, and are u in any pain? any studies done? I work for a spine surgeon.

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