When Daniel Palmer, the creator of chiropractic treatment, first began writing about the subject, very little literature existed on the concept of using the body’s structural system and its neurological workings to improve health.
As a matter of fact, at the time that Mr. Palmer performed his healings, he was going out on a limb, and it earned him ridicule from the established medical community of the time. Some of his patients would even hesitate to receive care from him.
However, once his methods had proven to be highly effective, it became apparent that he had found an angle that conventional medicine had not yet discovered or exploited.
In order to train others so they could follow in his footsteps, he founded the first ever school that would train future chiropractors in the art and science of healing patients in an alternative way.
But it did not take long for the school to catch the ire of the medical establishment. Mr. Palmer actually suffered imprisonment as a result of his efforts.
Fortunately, this enforced hiatus did not last long and his son Bartlett was soon able to take teaching to the next level and help aspiring chiropractors to understand the relationship between medical science, the healing arts, and lifestyle counseling, disciplines which would later become the core curriculum of modern chiropractic courses.
Fast forwarding from then to now, and you will notice that chiropractic education is highly regulated, and requires not only a considerable amount of previous education but also extensive amounts of coursework.
Several exams along the way ensure that aspiring chiropractors are well versed in the three pillars of the chiropractic curriculum. An internship under the supervision of an experienced chiropractor then ensures that the students do not simply possess book knowledge but a great deal of hands-on training.
The advances in chiropractic education are also unique in the fact that today’s chiropractors have an impressive knowledge of the clinical sciences, which wasn’t an area of great focus in past courses.
Additionally, future chiropractors are trained to work within the confines of established medical practice, as well as in unison with a host of other health practitioners participating in the care of a patient.
As such new crops of chiropractors have the experience necessary to “speak” and understand medical language. They are familiar with medical doctors’ assessments and the findings noted in a patient’s chart, and can use the proper medical terminology that needs to be communicated to other healthcare professionals.
Thus, in a very real way, the advances in chiropractic education are preparing today’s chiropractors to take on their roles as doctors of chiropractic in a setting that makes them teammates of an equal footing with internists, cardiologists, and other healthcare specialists.
In addition, today’s chiropractor is well versed in interdisciplinary treatment.
