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 in being able to provide pain relief for many conditions.

In my 35 years of practice, I am often asked by patients 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, MDs, podiatrists, and optometrists, postgraduate chiropractic education follows 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 tests are required. However, most patients and other lay people and even some health care providers from other professions are particularly curious as to how chiropractors learn the skill of manipulating the spinal vertebrae to relieve pain.

The 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 palpate swelling or edema, muscle spasms, and abnormalities of the fascia, ligaments, and tendons. Palpation is an ongoing process throughout chiropractic education and expertise takes many years to develop. Chiropractors are the main health specialists in the palpation of mechanical alignment problems of the spine.

Next in chiropractic education is learning “techniques” to correct spinal pain conditions. 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 movements of the spinal bones of the neck, lower and middle back, and pelvis. Chiropractors also learn to help with shoulder, hip, rib, and extremity problems.

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 chiropractic physicians, who are called clinicians.

Physicians guide a chiropractic intern through this phase of education. At the end of their internships, the graduate is awarded a doctor of chiropractic (DC) degree and they 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 to be a safe and pleasant experience because it relieves muscle spasms and superficial muscle tension while correcting deeper spinal misalignment. Of course, chiropractors continue to learn and hone their skills throughout their many years of practice.

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