It was in September of 1895 that the first chiropractic adjustment was performed. For the past 121 years, patients have experienced the benefits of chiropractic adjustments and living the holistic, wellness lifestyle.
The History of Chiropractic
Dr. Daniel David Palmer (D.D.) was in his office in Davenport, Iowa when he noticed that the partially deaf janitor, Harvey Lillard, had a vertebra obviously out of position. He asked him what had happened. Lilllard told him that he had moved the wrong way and heard a pop in his back and that was when he had lost his hearing. Palmer, who at the time was involved in many other natural healing philosophies, asked Lillard to lie face down on the floor and gave him the very first chiropractic adjustment. The next day Lillard told Palmer that he could hear again. Palmer opened a school of chiropractic just two years later.
Chiropractic College
Now, over 100 years later, a prospective student of chiropractic has a lot of options. According to the Association of Chiropractic Colleges there are 17 campuses in the United States and a total of 21 colleges worldwide. A list of these schools can be found at www.chirocolleges.org. When deciding upon this career, keep in mind that most chiropractic colleges require 90 semester hours in order to finish a Bachelor’s of Science degree. Specifically requiring 6 semester hours in Arts and Humanities, English and Math; 9 hours in Behavioral and Social Sciences; and 21 hours in Natural Sciences. Once enrolled in a chiropractic college, a student of chiropractic will actually have almost 4,500 classroom hours in order to receive their degree. Consider this in comparison to the average medical degree which requires only 4,248 classroom hours. The Doctor of Chiropractic will spend more class hours on the same courses required for a medical degree. For example, a medical degree requires 324 hours in diagnosis while a chiropractic student will spend 530 classroom hours on the same subject. Another example, a medical degree requires only 156 classroom hours in orthopedics but a chiropractic student will spend 210 hours. Then, a chiropractic student will study additional courses not required for a medical degree; such as: immunology, spinal adjustments, manipulation, advanced radiology and nutrition. What is a Chiropractor? Thomas Edison once said, “The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will instruct his patient in the care of the human frame, in diet and in the cause and prevention of disease,” and this truly sums up the goal of a chiropractor. Not to be “anti-medicine,” but to assist patients in living a lifestyle that will rarely, if ever, require it. Based on the Greek word “Chiropraktikos”, the word chiropractic can be broken down to the root word chiro, which means “hand”, and the word praktikos, which translates to “practical science”. So, chiropractic, in its most basic form is “to practice scientific work by hand”. Nerve impulses travel from the brain down the spinal cord and out to the muscles, organs and glands. Subluxations are created when vertebrae in the spine are slightly out of place causing nerve interference that may interrupt those nerve impulses. Using their hands, a chiropractor removes nerve interference in the spine because they recognize that a body is healthier when it is functioning at its best. Many chiropractors enjoy the benefit of seeing miracles in their practice. Just like D.D. Palmer helped a deaf man hear, family wellness chiropractors worldwide experience the same in their practices.
Why a Career as a Chiropractor?
When considering what to do for a living, most want a job that will be fulfilling. A job that has a sense of accomplishment and well-being at the end of the day will be more rewarding. In 2011, CareerCast, an online premier career site, rated chiropractic as one of the top ten least stressful jobs. They stated, “Chiropractors typically work 40-hour weeks, but their schedules may vary depending on their clients’ needs. The demand for chiropractic care is high as more and more people tend to work in front of computers for extended periods of time.” Additionally, MarketWatch, published by Dow Jones & Co., listed Chiropractic as #1 of the top 10 professions with the best job security. To identify the easiest and hardest jobs to keep, 24/7 Wall Street, a Delaware financial news corporation, reviewed 2014 unemployment rates among workers in 564 occupations provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). They said, “Just one in every 1,000 chiropractors was unemployed last year, the lowest figure among all occupations reviewed by the BLS. Chiropractors are required to complete a Doctor of Chiropractic degree, and they often seek additional professional degrees. Chiropractors typically take a more holistic approach to health, as they consider the entire body and state of a patient’s health. Chiropractic methods vary widely but share a drug-free approach by which musculoskeletal and nervous system disorders are addressed with manual manipulations of the body.” In other words, this is a career that is going strong.
The Feel Good Profession
Considering all the other things that make chiropractic a great career choice, probably the best recommendation came from Payscale, a website dedicated to helping professionals determine their value. In 2015, they rated chiropractic as #7 out of 10 for the best job for dogooders. They stated, “If you think you feel good after a visit to the Chiropractor, he or she reports feeling even better. Ninety-four percent of chiropractors report a high sense of job meaning…” Being a Family Wellness Chiropractor is one of the most rewarding career choices out there. Ranked by Payscale right along with orthopedic surgeon, police chief, elementary school principal, senior pastor, executive director of a non-profit, and fire captain, chiropractors have a job that is incredibly fulfilling. Imagine you or one of your children are a family wellness chiropractor, getting to adjust entire families and having parents report back that their baby’s colic is soothed, that the chronic ear infections have stopped occurring or that their constipation is resolved and that they’re a healthier, happier baby. Then another parent tells you that the little one you’ve been adjusting since he was 3 (because his mom heard that chiropractic care may help with asthma symptoms) just joined the track team. These are the kinds of experiences that family wellness chiropractors enjoy on a regular basis. Of course, nothing will ever quite compare with adjusting a newborn and then 20 years later adjusting their newborn. These are the things that you can’t quantify. You can’t measure how remarkable this profession is, you’ve got to experience it to believe it.
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