Many people choose to become a chiropractor because they want to become a professional in an area of healthcare that focuses mainly on the musculoskeletal system and treatment options that do not rely heavily on pharmaceuticals. A chiropractic physician has the responsibility of bridging the gap between mainstream medicine and more conservative treatment options, for the good of their patients and for the betterment of the healthcare community. This means an understanding of proper referral systems when indicated, establishing and maintaining excellent and trustworthy communication between various types of healthcare providers and most importantly, continually bettering ones knowledge as a physician through courses of continuing education, to guarantee the most current forms of effective treatment plans for a patient. A person who chooses chiropractic medicine as their career of choice will enjoy a long and successful tenure if they continue their learning throughout their career and treat their patients with knowledgeable and well-rounded care.

Educational Career

A student who has chosen to pursue a chiropractic degree will be required to complete some amount of undergraduate coursework before being considered to a chiropractic educational institution. In many cases, the requirement is 90 credit hours, or an associate degree, from an accredited university. Often times, chiropractic students begin a chiropractic program with a bachelor degree already completed but, as of 2005, only one chiropractic school requires a bachelor degree to be completed prior to admittance. It is estimated that this trend of bachelor degree standards may become more common and instituted in more chiropractic colleges over time. Once enrolled, the first two years of a chiropractic students career will consist of in-class coursework including anatomy and physiology, biochemistry, microbiology and pathology to list a few. During the third and fourth years of a chiropractor’s educational career, more practical clinical courses are required. During this time, a chiropractic student will provide supervised care to patients in a clinical setting. They will also create treatment plans for their patients and learn when to refer a patient to different healthcare providers when necessary. It is during this clinical period of their education that chiropractic students get a real sense of how a healthcare setting works. They have to communicate well with office staff to provide timely care for patients, they are required to establish treatment plans designed specifically for individual cases and they need to effectively manage their time throughout the clinical shift to keep an appropriate pace. Upon successful completion of the clinical portion of their education, chiropractic students are required to complete state licensing board examinations to become eligible to professionally practice in their desired state. Once a licensed physician, a chiropractor is required to complete a certain amount of continuing education credits for license renewal every three years. This continual required education is set in place for all healthcare providers to ensure that at all stages of a career, a health professional is up-to-date on the best and most current forms of treatment for their patients.

References Cited in this Article

www.chiropractorguide.com

www.bls.gov

www.chiroweb.net

Akihabara is an area in Japan within the city of Tokyo. This area is also referred to as Akihabara Electric Town and the literal meaning of the name translates to the Field of Autumn Leaves. Many people shorten the name to Akiba. The main source of revenue in the area of Akihabara is the sales of robotic, electronic and computer and anime goods. For people who are searching for old and new video game systems and games, Akihabara is a great place to look. Akihabara is well known as being the original location of stores that first offered personal robotics and robots. The streets of Akihabara are lined with stores and the area is visited by many tourists as well as locals each year.  The Tsukuba Express is a railway system that connects Akihabara (the central area of Tokyo) with Tsukuba City. An Akihabara chiropractor clinic that offers chiropractic care as well as massage therapy, acupressure and osteopathic care is called the Largo Body Care Room. This health care center offers patient hours Monday through Saturday, 11 am to 9 pm and Sundays and holidays from 3 pm to 9 pm.

Chiropractors and Osteopaths

Aside from the Largo Body Care Room, there are many other chiropractors and osteopaths that practice within close proximity to Akihabara. These physicians have been educated at chiropractic colleges in Japan, the United States and other countries as well. The website, www.sunnypages.jp, provides a list of these physicians, the area in which their clinics are located, what type of services they offer and if there are English speaking employees on staff. This site also gives a short description as to the educational background that a physician has achieved and a few words on how they practice. The English speaking information is important as many times, chiropractors in these areas will be treating English speaking tourists. Manomedica is a clinic located in Tokyo that offers specialized chiropractic care with chiropractic physicians that speak English. They offer care for all ages, including pediatric chiropractic care, standard and specialized consultations, herbal remedies, manual therapies such as joint manipulation and deep tissue massage and neurological testing and techniques. This is an established clinic that has been offering conservative care for patients for many years. The doctor on staff will establish an individual conservative health plan following an initial consultation and examination. For more information about this clinic, visit their website at www.manomedica.com.

References Cited in this Article

www.largobodycareroom.jp

www.sunnypages.jp

www.manomedica.com

As with all states, the state of Washington has many different chiropractors to choose from. Finding a Seattle chiropractic physician can be easy when using online search sites that specialize in connecting potential patients with practicing chiropractors in the Seattle area. The Washington State Chiropractic Association provides online resources for patients as well as information for chiropractic physicians practicing in Washington state. Their website provides information about the chiropractic profession, any past and current government legislation relating to chiropractic, tabs for chiropractic physicians to post advertisements, look for or post job openings or to search for continuing education courses. Patients can search the site to find chiropractic clinics in their area. In the Seattle area, there are hundreds of chiropractic physicians to choose from. When searching for chiropractors in Seattle, the website www.citysearch.com will provide a listing of chiropractors and also show what, if applicable, certain chiropractors specialize in. This site also states in what neighborhood a chiropractic clinic is located. Some Seattle chiropractors specialize in children who complain of bed wetting and other pediatric issues, some provide care to athletes in certain age groups, many chiropractic physicians in Seattle work in multidisciplinary groups with other health care providers and others may be found working at hospitals or outpatient clinical settings. Some searches allow a prospective patient to look specifically for a straight chiropractor (mainly works to correct health issues with only spinal manipulation), a mixed chiropractor (combines joint manipulation with other forms of therapy) or a reform chiropractor (works closely with medical providers and does not agree with all theories of chiropractic care).

Practicing Chiropractic Physicians

According to the chiropractors directory at www.healthprofs.com, there are currently no practicing chiropractic physicians in the Seattle, Washington area that accept Medicaid as a form of insurance payment. It is advised that because of this, if a patient is insured by Medicaid and wishes to receive chiropractic care, that they expand their search and look for chiropractic clinics in King County, and if that produces no results then to do an online search of the entire state of Washington. Since long travels are not always possible and if a patient wishes to be seen by a specific chiropractor in Seattle, some clinics will provide a printout of what their charges are for certain treatments and this can make it easier for a patient to decide what amount of care they will be able to afford.

References Cited in this Article

www.chirohealth.org

www.healthprofs.com

Patients want quality healthcare. Many times a prospective patient looking for a chiropractic physician will ask their primary care physician for a recommendation. They may also ask for opinions from family and friends. Chiropractor reviews can also be found online for patients. These online review sites allow a patient to search for a chiropractor by state and then by city. The reviews are from past and current patients of a specific chiropractic office and are good ways for someone to learn about practice styles of various chiropractic physicians. Because there are differing philosophies among chiropractic doctors, the manner in which they practice and offer treatment plans to patients will vary. Some patients require certain types of treatment that a certain chiropractic physician can offer them; another patient may not respond well to the treatment that this very same doctor has offered. For this reason, it is important for a prospective patient to narrow down their physician search in order to find a doctor that is a good fit for their health care needs. With online search engines for patients, finding a chiropractic physician that will be a good fit makes the process more easily accomplished for prospective patients.

Chiropractic Review Websites

Health insurance companies offer their insured clients a list of in-network chiropractic physicians in their area to choose from. While these lists give patients information about doctors in their area, they say nothing about specific information that a patient may be curious about. Websites such as www.mydochub.com and www.bookofdoctors.com are designed to direct patients to an appropriate chiropractic physician that will be able to treat their individual health problems. Sites such as www.chirohub.com will also give information to patients about various forms of chiropractic techniques to familiarize them with the language of the profession. The websites also have other physician specialties to choose from. Some chiropractic review websites also offer reviews for chiropractic products, chiropractic schools and chiropractic equipment. Because of all of these reviews, these websites are also utilized by chiropractic physicians as well as patients. Some of the chiropractic review websites have other types of information as well; these sites provide marketplace style information for doctors within the profession to look for employment, by and sell new and used clinical equipment, search for upcoming seminars and continuing education courses, find information about chiropractic associations and search individual states for their board examination information.

References Cited in this Article

www.chirohub.com

www.mydochub.com

www.bookofdoctors.com

Do you suffer from a herniated disc?  This is a common condition that can cause local inflammation, pain, motor, sensory, and reflex deficits.  A herniated disc is described as the inner nucleus pulposus traveling beyond its normal barriers of the outer fibrotic ring.  This may or may not apply pressure to surrounding nerve roots.  This is why some individuals have undetected herniated discs because of the lack of pain and other symptoms.  In these circumstances, they are usually incidentally found on MRI or CT scan.  However, this is usually not the case for most patients suffering from this.  Patients describe electric-like shock sensations traveling down their arms or legs causing them to drop items, have an unsteady gait, altered sensations in their extremities, and less than optimal reflexes.  This can be a frightening occurrence and may also mimic more serious conditions as well such as Cauda Equina Syndrome or a possible tumor pressing on the spinal cord.  If these life-threatening conditions arise, emergency referral is indicated; if not, spinal manipulation should be considered as the first line of treatment. 

Treatment

Chiropractic is on the front line for herniated disc treatment when the bulge is considered contained and not impinging on the spinal cord causing possible nerve damage.  When un-contained, surgical intervention is the treatment of choice to avoid further paralysis.  A Chiropractor will determine the level of the disc herniation and treat accordingly through manipulations, physiotherapy, hydrotherapy, and spinal decompression.  One specific technique to treat disc herniations is Cox Flexion/Distraction technique.  This technique is a pumping action that opens up the facet joints allowing blood to nourish the injured disc.  This restores range of motion, decreases pain and inflammation, and reduces the disc bulge.

Chiropractic is the practice of manipulation of the spine and extremities through the use of hands or instruments.  A Chiropractor receives his/her doctorate degree after completion of a bachelor in science.  They in total study for almost 8 years, take over 70 classes in the grad program, and complete 4,500 classroom hours.  The areas of study include but are not limited to: anatomy, physiology, kinesiology, hydrotherapy, pathology, clinical neurology, embryology, histology, physiotherapy, biochemistry, nutrition, radiology, technique courses and many more.  A Chiropractic student enters into student teaching clinic in about trimester 7 of 10 for approximately 4 months.  Then, he or she matriculates into the outpatient clinic for the remainder of the curriculum.  The student is overseen by clinicians whom are doctors of chiropractic.  They ensure public safety, review student technique, and assist with any questions the intern or patient may have.  Depending on the Chiropractic school, an intern must complete 50 student adjustments, 200 outpatient adjustments, 25 physicals, take 10 x-rays, and read additional lab and x-ray reports for graduation. 

The clinic

Another word to describe a Chiropractor’s practice is chiropractice.  An initial visit will go as follows: first, a Chiropractor will take a detailed case history followed by a physical exam.  The physical exam is focused to the complaint at hand.  It could be a head/neck exam, thorax exam, ears, eyes, upper extremity, lower extremity, or spinal exam.  Next, he/she will then locate the areas of subluxation in the spine and/or extremities.  A subluxation is another word to describe a “slight dislocation” of a bone.  If x-rays or additional studies are warranted they will also be taken at this time.  Finally, the Chiropractor will then address the areas of subluxation using HVLA thrusts in the line of drive of the mis-alignment.  This will ultimately restore range of motion and eliminate any interference to the nervous system.  The nervous system is the most important organ in the human body and controls and coordinates every organ system and body part.  Post adjustment, the Chiropractor will answer any and all questions the patient may have and discuss further treatment if necessary.

Have you ever been adjusted?  Many people don’t know what that term means or who does it.  Chiropracters perform manipulations on the spine and extremities to correct subluxations and restore the nervous system to full capacity.  A subluxation is a near dislocation in the spine or extremities that may press on surrounding nerve roots causing pain and local inflammation.  They find these areas through physical exam using static and kinetic evaluation, and sometimes x-ray.  Once completed, the chiropracter will deliver a high velocity low amplitude (HVLA) thrust in the direction of the mis-alignment to correct it.  Typically, the patient will hear a cracking or popping sound, this is completely normal and is gas being released from the joint space.  This sound need not occur for the adjustment to be successful.  After the adjustment, the chiropracter will re-check the area to see if the adjustment in deed held.  Chiropracters focus on restoring the nervous system to optimum capacity since this system controls and coordinates every organ system and body part in the human body.  They may employ other staff members in addition to delivering chiropractic care such as: massage therapists, acupuncturists, colon therapists, physical therapists, physical therapy assistants, medical assistants, chiropractic assistants, yoga instructors, podiatrists, medical doctors, dermatologists, personal trainers, medical billing personnel, and many more.

Your first visit

Many individuals are nervous for their first chiropractic appointment due to not knowing what to expect.  Most people are paranoid about having their cervical spine adjusted due to rumors of strokes related to chiropractic manipulation.  This risk is extremely small, about 1 episode in 2 million adjustments and doesn’t occur due to the adjustment rather from the patient already being in a state of disease to stroke.  The chiropracter will explain all the benefits and risks prior to care, perform a through physical examination, and take x-rays and labs if needed for diagnosis and treatment.

Do you have neck pain and need adjustment from a chiropractor? Don’t trust Sly as he’ll most likely break your neck and trust our awesome resources on echiropractor.org . If you have questions, please let us know in the comment section. Thank you.

What is a chiro?  Basically, this is a slang term used within the chiropractic community to describe a chiropractor.  A chiropractor must complete a bachelor’s degree as well as the doctor of chiropractic degree from an accredited institution to practice.  The chiro student takes over 7,500 hours of classroom courses as well as practical application in the following areas: clinical anatomy and physiology, neurology, histology, embryology, biochemistry, nutrition, NMS evaluation, clinical assessment and application, and adjusting courses.  He/she must also complete the boards given by the National Board of Chiropractic Examiners satisfactorily to practice in the United States of America and many other countries.  Upon completion of these examinations, the newly graduated chiro must apply for licensure in the state in which he/she wants to practice in.

The Doors Are Open

 Now the doors are finally open and the chiro can do what they love-adjusting patients!  They have many opportunities for how they would like to practice.  They can be a sole proprietor, an associate, an independent contractor, an employee, engaged in profit sharing, or a tandem associate.  There are pros and cons to each decision since there are so many factors to consider like lease payments, equipment, staff, malpractice insurance, marketing, and obligations of owning one’s business.  A chiropractor may also choose to specialize in an area like pediatrics, geriatrics, pre and perinatal care, internal medicine, orthopedics, radiology, or sports medicine.  These can be either fellowship programs or be much longer board certification programs.  Being a chiro, or chiropractor is a very rewarding career profession to achieve.

A Chiropractor’s Salary can significantly vary depending on their geographic location.  New Chiropractors may get paid more in an area where it is more populated such as New York, Chicago or even Dallas.  If a Chiropractor chooses to work in a small town where the need isn’t as great, they may make less than someone who is working in a more populated area.  Building a new clientele is a major problem when a new Chiropractor is competing against many established Chiropractors.  A Chiropractor’s salary can also vary based on whether they are working at a private practice, hospital, school, or government state agency.  Salaries can fluctuate below or above the median depending on the actual employer they choose to work for.   It’s also very important to research each company within your area to ensure you are getting paid fairly.  You should be in the median starting salary range for the company you choose to work for.  Another factor is your overall education and previous experience.  If a Chiropractor is fresh out of school, or has less than one year of experience, they generally have less clientele than someone who has been in the industry for five years or more.  It’s important to consider your experience and initial education training.  If a Chiropractor chooses to further their education and qualifications, they have a better chance of making a better starting salary than someone who only has a Chiropractic license within their state.  It’s vital to always do thorough research on your area’s geographic statistics, and places on where you might like to work.  This will give you a  better idea as to how much compensation you will make within your specific area.