What Type of Education and Training Do Chiropractors Have?

Chiropractors are doctors, similar to a dentist. When people yell is there a doctor in the house they don’t usually mean dentist. However, the training of a chiropractor is comparable to a medical doctor. We receive an education as primary contact health care practitioners. The emphasis of our training is on neuromusculoskeletal diagnosis and treatment. We are trained in other topics, but if you come to me with a skin rash I would probably send you to a dermatologist. We have more training than medical doctors in some fields and less in others. For muscles, bones, joints, and nerves we’re specialists.

As far as education requirements the typical applicant at a chiropractic college has already acquired nearly four years of pre-medical undergraduate college education, including courses in biology, inorganic and organic chemistry, physics, psychology and related lab work. After completing undergraduate courses chiropractors then endure 4 more years of more rigorous course loads as well as clinical training. So, all in total most chiropractors have spent 7-9 years in school, internships, etc. This education is approved and monitored by accrediting agencies fully recognized and overseen by the U.S. Department of Education.

I have found a great comparison of Medical School vs. Chiropractic School, but it is too thorough, and I don’t have a link to it. Let me give you a more brief synopsis. This chart was compiled and averaged following a review of curricula of 18 chiropractic colleges and 22 medical schools. It does leave things out such as clinical experiences, and the hours tend to even out and even tip a little toward the medical side when you add everything up, but this gives you a good basis.

Minimum Required Hours

Chiropractic College		Medical School
456	Anatomy/Embryology.	215
243	Physiology	174
296	Pathology	507
161	Chemistry/Biochemistry	100
145	Microbiology	145
408	Diagnosis	113
149	Neurology	171
56	Psychology/Psychiatry	323
66	Obstetrics & Gynecology	284
271	X-ray	13
168	Orthopedics	2
2,419	Total Hours for Degree	2,047

Please feel free to comment, and if you are interested in details we can do that too.