When you’re compelled to find a career that helps people improve their lives, you’re probably looking at healthcare professions. You have many pathways to get there, and one is to become a doctor of chiropractic (D.C.)
Ask anyone who works directly with patients, and their #1 reason for doing so is they enjoy helping people achieve their best possible health. Chiropractic is incredibly satisfying because there’s a total focus on finding and treating the source neuromuscular problems using a non-pharmaceutical, whole-person approach to health and wellness.
Doctors of chiropractic believe in restoring function and movement and optimizing health outcomes in various ways: good nutrition, constructive exercise, improved posture, and proper spinal and extremity joint biomechanics.
Following a comprehensive physical assessment, chiropractic care might include
The benefits of chiropractic care are being recognized in major medical journals, including Spine, Annals of Internal Medicine, Medical Care, and the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
These medical organizations call for non-invasive back pain relief approaches and have published scientific evidence reinforcing the value of chiropractic care.
The 2022 report, Chiropractic: A Safe and Cost-Effective Approach to Health, noted that decades of research have documented the value and savings that result from chiropractic care. The report states, “the profession is well positioned as a healthcare authority for safe and conservative, first-contact, primary spine care for structural health and well-being.”
That’s welcome news for those who want to become a chiropractor.
In many ways, chiropractic education can be compared to medical school, encompassing at least 4,200 hours of class time, lab work, learning patient care skills, and supervised internship experiences in clinic settings.
In a typical College of Chiropractic, students earn their Doctor of Chiropractic (D.C.) degrees in 3.5 years through a rigorous, trimester format. As students progress through school, they must pass various exams conducted by the National Board of Chiropractic Examiners (NBCE).
In many ways, there has never been a better time to become a chiropractor. Here are four reasons why:
Doctors of Chiropractic are licensed to practice in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The chiropractic profession is the third-largest physician-level independent health profession in the Western world.
While most chiropractors choose to offer care to patients of all ages in a family practice, there are specialty areas within chiropractic, including:
According to Salary.com, the median annual compensation for chiropractors with established practices ranges to $100,000 per year, including bonuses, profit-sharing, or both. Chiropractors usually work a 40-hour work week and report high levels of job satisfaction.
When you become a chiropractor, it’s just as likely to have a rewarding career in a small town or rural community as it is in a big city. Low-back pain and other musculoskeletal ailments are as commonplace in offices and small family businesses as in factories, and labor-intensive industries. (Read about Drs. Haase and Clausen, who practice in Elkhorn, Neb.)
A recent U.S. News & World Report jobs survey showed chiropractors ranking 19th in the Best Health Care Jobs category.
Cleveland University-Kansas City (CUKC) is a nonprofit, private, chiropractic and health sciences university in Overland Park, Kansas, a suburb of 190,000 within the Kansas City metro area.
Our chiropractic history started in 1922. Today, more than 11,000 alumni have earned their Doctor of Chiropractic degrees from our College of Chiropractic.
Points of distinction of our D.C. program:
To learn more about the Doctor of Chiropractic program at CUKC, request information today and receive our free eBook: Your Complete Guide to the Chiropractic Profession.
