Becoming a Doctor of Chiropractic is one of the hottest choices for a career in medicine. A growing number of medical practitioners have become disillusioned with the increasing demands put on medical doctors and primary care providers, from patient overload to exhausting working hours. Chiropractors, on the other hand, enjoy one of the best healthcare lifestyles.
How does being a doctor but not working weekends or holidays, not working ridiculous hours and not having to deal with death sound?
Why become a chiropractor indeed!
What Does a Chiropractor Do?
A Doctor of Chiropractic diagnoses, treats and prevents mechanical disorders of the musculoskeletal system, primarily the spine. In practical terms, a chiropractor helps people live better lives by helping to reduce pain, increase mobility and proactively prevent many medical conditions from occurring.
A chiropractic career will allow you to provide successful medical treatment for a wide variety of patient conditions and injuries, such as:
- Back, neck and joint pain
- Arthritis
- Stiff or sore muscles
- Headaches
- Injuries from an accident or fall
- Work injuries
- Sports injuries
- Fibromyalgia
- Poor sleep
- Bad posture
- And many more
As a chiropractor, you’ll leverage your career in medicine to provide professional healthcare, healing and prevention through a number of proven procedures and techniques, including:
- Spinal manipulation
- Extremity manipulation
- Spine and joint realignment
- Adjustments using specialized tables
- Hand-held instrument adjustments
- Hands-on thrust adjustments
- Decompression (stretching) manipulation
Preventative care and wellness
Chiropractic preventative care and chiropractic wellness are newer focus areas based on the additional unexpected benefits many chiropractic patients experienced as they were being treated for acute conditions. Many patients are now seeking chiropractors to help them prevent common ailments before they even surface.
Chiropractic wellness care is increasingly sought to aid:
- Diet and nutrition
- Fitness and exercise
- Body posture
- Balance issues
- Blood pressure
- Energy levels
- Stress levels
- Personal habit changes
Enjoying the chiropractic lifestyle
A chiropractic career offers you the benefits of being a doctor without having to deal with many of the challenges doctors and medical professionals in other fields experience. In addition to strong earning power, chiropractors typically enjoy a 40-hour workweek and having weekends and holidays off.
Chiropractors also enjoy more pleasant working conditions than many other types of doctors. Performing services in clean, quiet professional spaces, the ability to move around and be active while providing treatments and not being pressured by patient loads are some of the top working condition advantages chiropractors report. A career in medicine as a chiropractor is one of the smartest choices you can make.
Steps To Become a Chiropractor
Step 1: Understand the field of chiropractic medicine. Do your own research to learn how a chiropractic career may help you achieve your goals and plan for lifetime career success. Also explore the field to discover how preventative chiropractic treatments improve lives.
Step 2: Earn a bachelor’s degree or complete 3–4 years of undergraduate studies. Your best bet is a Bachelor of Science degree and choosing a science-heavy curriculum in the physical or life sciences. Courses in biology, anatomy, chemistry and physics are highly recommended.
Step 3: Attend a chiropractic college and earn your Doctor of Chiropractic degree. You have many options. Research chiropractic colleges to understand how various program offerings, methods of educational delivery and length of time to complete the degree match your needs.
Step 4: Obtain your national and state chiropractic licenses. First, you’ll need to prepare for and pass the National Board of Chiropractic Examiners (NBCE) exam to begin your chiropractic career. Next, you’ll need to obtain your state chiropractic license. Nearly every state requires passing a state exam in addition to the NBCE.
Step 5: Choose a chiropractic specialty. While specializing is not required for a chiropractic career, most chiropractors enjoy increased success and career satisfaction through specializing.
Choose from specialties like pediatrics, sports, rehabilitation, forensic science and many more.
Step 6: Continue your education and lifelong learning. Chiropractic is a career in medicine that promotes lifelong learning and ongoing education. Chiropractic licensing and certification requirements include continuing professional education. This keeps you current with the latest techniques and developments in the field, which improves your effectiveness and your patients’ outcomes.
Doctor of Chiropractic Salary Expectations
A primary reason people explore “why become a chiropractor” is because they have heard that chiropractors make good money. This is true.
The median salary for a Doctor of Chiropractic ranges from $75,000 to more than $150,000, based on employment circumstances. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average salary for chiropractors is nearly equal to the average salary for all healthcare practitioners. An average chiropractic salary is 79 percent more than the average salary for all professions.
A career in medicine as a chiropractor also allows you to enjoy a better overall compensation package and benefits than workers in most industries. Healthcare and wellness coverage, life insurance, retirement plans, paid time off, profit-sharing and bonuses all increase the compensation chiropractors enjoy.
Chiropractic Careers and Industry Outlook
Earning your Doctor of Chiropractic degree will prepare you to start and manage your own practice, or choose from a variety of roles for your career in medicine in settings such as:
- Chiropractic or integrated healthcare practice
- VA hospital or other healthcare facility
- Academic teaching of chiropractic
- Sports team affiliation
- Clinical research
A positive industry outlook
According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, jobs for chiropractors will increase 10 percent between now and 2030, which is greater than the average for all occupations. Part of this increase is likely due to the increased satisfaction persons living with pain are discovering through chiropractic medicine. Chiropractic is also gaining popularity for offering preventative and wellness-oriented life solutions.
Add the increased demand to advantages like a chiropractic salary, and a career choice in this field makes even more sense.
Take the First Step Toward Your Career: Earn Your Doctor of Chiropractic Degree at Campbellsville University
If “why become a chiropractor” has led you to “I want to be a chiropractor,” read on!
Campbellsville University School of Chiropractic offers you a high-quality Doctor of Chiropractic degree program to achieve your goals and prepare you for an exciting and successful future. At Campbellsville you’ll learn from faculty who are practicing chiropractors and experienced clinicians and educators. They’ll ensure you are prepared to pass the NBCE and state exam on your way to career and life success.
Did you know that the majority of chiropractors own and operate their own practice or allied healthcare business? Campbellsville University offers a unique mix of clinical and business education that will prepare you to manage and build your own practice, or lead and grow an existing organization. You’ll receive expert training in areas such as cash flow, personnel management, financial analysis, business communication and more.
Flexible admission options
Campbellsville University offers multiple pathways for admission to our Doctor of Chiropractic program:
1. Regular admission: For candidates who have earned a bachelor’s degree OR have earned 90 credit hours from a regionally accredited institution, in addition to minimum course hours and GPA requirements.
2. Alternative admission track plan: For candidates who have earned a bachelor’s degree OR have earned 90 credit hours from a regionally accredited institution, but with lower course hour and GPA requirements.
3. Admission track for students with less than 90 credit hours: Students with less than 90 credit hours can be admitted to our undergraduate Bachelor of Science in Liberal Arts and Sciences concentration in Life Science (BS LAS LS) program. Students will complete their bachelor’s degree prior to graduation from the Doctor of Chiropractic program.
Research-proven Chiropractic Results!
According to research gathered and reported by the American Chiropractic Association, patients who saw a chiropractor as their initial provider for low back pain (LBP) had 90 percent decreased odds of both early and long-term opioid use.
See more chiropractic research results on the ACA website.