Most people know that chiropractors relieve back and neck pain. Many others have found that other painful conditions, such as sciatica, shoulder pain, and hip pain, also respond to safe and gentle chiropractic care. However, how a chiropractor learns to relieve pain is a mystery to many. This article will discuss what is involved in the education and training of a chiropractor and being able to provide pain relief for many conditions.

In my 35 years of practice, patients often ask me how I learned the skills required by my profession. I answer that it is a long and rigorous process. Like other health care providers, such as dentists, medical doctors, podiatrists, and optometrists, postgraduate chiropractic education takes place after college education. In fact, chiropractic college involves a five-year program of intensive study after years at a traditional university or college.

Classes in anatomy (including cadaver dissection), physiology, chemistry, pathology, and other basic health sciences are part of the curriculum. Clinical studies in pathology, diagnosis, imaging, and blood and urine analysis are required. However, most patients and other lay people and even some health care providers from other professions are especially curious about how chiropractors learn the skill of manipulating the spinal vertebrae to relieve pain.

Actual chiropractic training classes start as soon as new students start school. The first discipline to be learned is palpation. Palpation is the ability to use the hands to feel various parts of the body to determine normality or abnormality. Chiropractors learn to palpate the vertebrae of the spine to detect misalignment and improper movement of the spinal joints.

Chiropractic students also learn to feel for swelling or edema, muscle spasms, and abnormalities of the fascia, ligaments, and tendons. Palpation is an ongoing process throughout chiropractic education and it takes many years to develop expertise. Chiropractors are the leading healthcare specialists in the palpation of mechanical alignment problems of the spine.

Next in chiropractic education is learning “techniques” to correct pain conditions in the spine. Students learn many methods of manual manipulation (also called chiropractic adjustments) and mobilization. Much of the training involves the use of “hands on” chiropractic techniques. There are hundreds of variations of chiropractic adjustments where students must learn to correct malpositions and abnormal movement of the bones of the neck spine, mid and lower back, and pelvis. Chiropractors also learn to help with shoulder, hip, rib, and extremity problems.

The techniques may also involve the use of specialized chiropractic tables and adjusting instruments. Many chiropractors also use forms of deep pressure for muscle trigger points and myofascial strains, sprains, and disruptions.

At the beginning of chiropractic technique training, a student does not perform an actual “adjustment.” He or she just “sets” the technique. This is done thousands of times. Only after a student has gained proficiency in this phase does she proceed to chiropractic clinics to provide actual chiropractic adjustments to patients. This is done under the observation and instruction of trained physicians of chiropractic, who are called clinicians.

Physicians guide a chiropractic intern through this phase of education. At the end of their internships, graduates are awarded a Doctor of Chiropractic (DC) degree and are ready to be licensed in all 50 United States and many other countries around the world.

Most patients who receive a chiropractic adjustment find it a safe and pleasurable experience because it relieves muscle spasms and superficial muscle tension by correcting deeper spinal misalignment. Of course, chiropractors continue to learn and hone their skills over their many years of practice.

When patients, laymen, and other healthcare professionals learn the amount of training that goes into the skill, art, and philosophy of chiropractic, they understand why the chiropractic profession is foremost in detecting and correcting chiropractic problems. spine and back and neck pain relief.