Specialists known as doctors of chiropractic use holistic type preventive health care methods as well as spinal and nerve manipulation to treat patients.
Nutrition, exercise, stress relief methods are among the steps chiropractors emphasize to patients seeking to improve their health.
There are nearly 22,000 chiropractors practicing in the U.
S.
making chiropractor jobs one of the strongest health care practices in the country.
While each state has its own unique state exam, every state requires passing an exam for licensure.
Over the past several decades, there has been a growing interest in alternative therapies for health care.
Consequently chiropractor jobs are projected, by the U.
S.
Department of Labor, to be readily available through 2018.
Chiropractic therapy was bitterly opposed by the mainstream medical field up through the 1960s when more thorough and scientific studies proved its limited value in some therapies.
Today, it is accepted by mainstream medical professionals as having its place in therapeutic use.
Modern chiropractic care has been with us for a little over 110 years though spinal manipulation was recorded thousands of years ago in ancient China.
The practice, once referred to as bone setting, has always been based on the belief that manipulation of the spine is necessary for alleviating all kinds of diseases and conditions.
Methods used several centuries ago were passed down in families generation after generation.
The first, and one of the most radical proponent of what we know as modern chiropractic was Daniel Palmer who became convinced that every disease known was the result of some malformation of the spine or some deviation in the nervous system.
The reason typical medical professionals fought it is because of Palmer's radical assertion that chiropractic adjustment was a cure for everything.
Today, it is recognized as having both scientific and therapeutic value in patient care and therapy.
To become a chiropractor requires much of what you would imagine a general physician would have to do to prepare.
Courses in sciences, mathematics, social science, chemistry, etc.
are all included.
Undergraduate work is generally required with an additional 4-5 years in a chiropractic college.
Total time of study to become a chiropractor that should be expected after high school is six to seven years.
Many people find value in accepting their chiropractor as their primary care physician.
Reputable chiropractors will refer patients to other physicians if they determine their patients must have medicine or possibly surgery to alleviate their condition.
Chiropractors treat people of any age of either sex, making them convenient for a family's primary care.
Unfortunately, some unscrupulous practitioners have brought suspicion on the profession by "treating" patients for conditions they are unqualified to treat them for.
A chiropractor is trained in joint and nerve manipulation and emphasize good nutrition, exercise, proper sleep and stress relief in their treatment processes.