Are Chiropractors Real Doctors?
Clear Lake Chiropractor Comments: It continues to amaze me that I get asked this question several times a year. Sometimes it is from people trying to be negative and sometimes from people that honestly just don’t know. Even though chiropractic has been around for 125 years and approximately 15% of the population goes to a chiropractor they still don’t know the answer.
The word “doctor” can be used as a noun or a verb. According to Merriam–Webster, as a noun, it means “a learned or authoritative teacher” and as a verb, it means “to return to good condition”. These are both definitions that relate well to chiropractors.
Now some people will see of the word “doctor” and only think of medical doctors. This is a very narrow viewpoint because it eliminates the majority of the people with a doctorate. This eliminates doctors of osteopathy (DO), doctors of dentistry (DDS), doctors of optometry (OD), doctors of theology (DTh) and all of the doctors of philosophy (PhD).
Sometimes people will assume that to be a real doctor you have to perform surgery. This eliminates even the majority of medical doctors such as pediatricians, neurologists, physiatrists, internists, cardiologists and many more.
Sometimes the person has no idea of the educational requirements to become a chiropractor. To become a Doctor of Chiropractic (DC) it takes 3 1/3 to 4 years of education after receiving your undergraduate education. The typical chiropractic curriculum has approximately 2000 hours of clinical sciences, 1500 hours of clinical clerkship plus electives to equal 4200 hours of instruction. In addition the doctor of chiropractic has annual educational hours required to maintain their license.
Hopefully this explains why the answer to the question “Are chiropractors real doctors?”, is YES. They just treat patients in a different way that doesn’t require drugs, medication or surgery.
Dr. Ward Beecher practices at Beecher Chiropractic Clinic at 1001 Pineloch, Ste 700 Houston, TX 77062. You can schedule an appointment at www.BeecherChiropractic.com or by calling (281) 286-1300. If you have any questions regarding this blog, please comment below!
