"Could You Tell Me About the 3 Misconceptions About Chiropractic"
1. Chiropractors are not real doctors.
Doctors of Chiropractic (D.C.) comprise the second largest health care profession with over 50,000 practitioners in the U.S. they earn the title "doctor" along with medical doctors (M.D.), doctors of osteopathy (D.O.), and dentists (D.D.S.).
The educational process leading to the title Doctor of Chiropractic is quite similar to that of an M.D. and D.O. In order to earn a D.C. degree, a student must complete several years of pre-chiropractic studies at colleges or universities, followed by 5 academic years of chiropractic education (totaling a minimum of 7 years of study). The chiropractic student's last year is spent in a clinical internship (similar to MD or DO "rotations"). During this time the chiropractic intern, under the supervision of a licensed D.C., will consult, examine and treat patients in a clinic setting. Upon graduation and earning the Doctor of Chiropractic degree, a state-licensing exam must be passed in order to practice.
Chiropractic students study many of the same textbooks as medical and osteopathic students. As a matter of fact, a chiropractic student accumulates more course hours in anatomy, physiology, biomechanics (how the body moves), neurology, and nutrition than their medical and osteopathic colleagues.
2. Chiropractic care is dangerous.
The safety of chiropractic care has been well documented in professional journals of all kinds. Serious side effects of chiropractic manipulative therapy occur approximately one out of every one million adjustments.
Compare this to the serious side effects of medicines and surgical errors to put safety in perspective. Did you know that research reveals that some 100,000 people die each year from the effects of prescription drugs that prescribed by their doctors? Now this isn't meant to be "M.D. bashing", it's just the simple truth about the safety of prescription medications, as reported in the journal of the American Medical Association (April 1998).
The article regarding the serious side effects of prescribed medications goes on to say, "Discovering new dangers of drugs after marketing is common. Overall, 51% of approved drugs have serious adverse effects not detected prior to approval. Merely discovering adverse effects is not by itself sufficient to protect the public. Each year prescription drugs injure 1.5 million people so severely they require hospitalization and 100,000 die, making prescription drugs the 4th leading cause of death in the United States."
3. Once you start going to a chiropractor, you have to keep going for the rest of your life!
Think about what the spine is. It is 24 vertebrae (bones) separated by a disc (shock absorber), stacked on top of one another. Between each two vertebrae a spinal nerve is located. Trauma to the spine, which can occur from auto accidents, work and sports injuries, or normal day-to-day stress like continually holding a child on your hip can severely affect the alignment (positioning) of these vertebrae and irritate spinal nerves.
Chiropractic care is like "orthodontics" for the spine. Clinically, repeated chiropractic adjustments "train" the vertebrae to maintain their proper alignment and movement. Like the time required for braces to achieve correction depends on an individual's teeth and mouth structure, the time required for proper positioning to occur depends on the condition of the patient's spine, their job, and other lifestyle activities.
The fact is some patients actually do require lifetime care. They have been in multiple car accidents or have had other serious injuries and they function best with regular treatment. Other patients feel better soon, but discover they're at their best with regular care. Some patients feel better, as long as they're symptom-free, they elect to stop treatment. Each patient's treatment plan is a partnership between their chiropractor and themselves. Whether to come often, once a month, or not a all depends on each patient, doctor, and their health partnership.
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