Thread: Myths About Chiropractic

Since I am bored today and because our other discussions have grown stale, in my opinion, I have decided to make a thread looking at some of the commonly held myths about chiropractic and why they are bull pooh pooh. After all, this is a forum for prospective chiropractic students and since we have spent most of our time discussing chiropractic's pitfalls, perhaps it is wise to have a thread looking at the problems with this field that do not actually exist or no longer exist. It is important for prospective students to have a realistic depiction of this profession, and not one that is unrealistically positive or negative.

So, here are some commonly held beliefs about chiropractic that I have found are nonsense.


Lets start with the latest one we have discussed

1. Chiropractors have high student loan default rates, which proves it is a risky profession to get into.

-While it is true that chiropractors have highest student loan default rate of any first profession health care field, the actual rate is quite small, at about 1.1%. By comparison, dentists have about a 0.2% default rate, medical doctors have about a .05%, podiatrists about 0.8%, and the default rate for all student loans (health care or otherwise) was about 9% in 2009. So while it certainly is higher for chiropractors, it isn't a problem for about 99% of DC graduates and becoming a DC would lower your chances of defaulting than if you were to just stick with a bachelors.

The Student Loan Mess: Why Chiropractic Is in Trouble

Graph of National Student Loan Default Rates

2. Chiropractors make much less than other health care professionals.

-Chiropractors do make less than most medical specialists, however, the average rate of pay is nearly the same for most other health care professions.

Here are the pay distributions for various health care professions.

Chiropractic




Clinical Psychologist



Dentist



Family Physician (MD or DO)



Nurse Practitioner



Physician's Assistant




Optometrist



Physical Therapist (DPT)



Podiatrist



http://swz.salary.com/docs/salwizhtmls/methodology.html


3. Most chiropractors do not believe in vaccines.


-Chiropractors were once anti-vaccination advocates but these days, most chiropractors believe in vaccinations. Most surveys on this subject are rather old. In 1995, about 37% of American chiropractors were opposed to vaccinations and in 2002, about 27% of Canadian chiropractors were opposed. Many chiropractors are still opposed to vaccination and the rate is too high, however, it is certainly not the majority.

Attitudes on immunization: a survey of American ch... [J Manipulative Physiol Ther. 1994 Nov-Dec] - PubMed result

Attitudes toward vaccination: a survey of Canadian... [CMAJ. 2002] - PubMed result


4. Only 42% of chiropractic students enter chiropractic college with a bachelor’s degree.

-A commonly used reference which shows that chiropractic students are poorly educated comes from chirobase.org, in the form of this table.



However, many people fail to realize that this table is from 1964 (chirobase posted it in 1999 but it was created by the AMA in the early 60's). The percentage is likely far higher these days, with several chiropractic colleges now requiring bachelor’s degrees for admission. The other schools require at least 3 years of undergraduate study.


5. Chiropractic students only go to school for 18 months.

-Early chiropractors were able to earn their DC in about a year and a half, however, all chiropractic programs since the late 1940’s have been 4 years.

CHIROPRACTIC EDUCATION & TRAINING

6. Chiropractors do not have residency programs.

-While residencies in are optional in chiropractic, and although not as intensive as medical residencies, there are numerous programs in chiropractic, which lead to specialization in areas such as orthopedics, sports medicine, neurology, physical therapy, and nutrition.

Google

7. Chiropractic school is more expensive than med school.

-Chiropractic school, med school, and really any other first professional program costs about $85,000 in tuition and the average debt upon leaving these schools is around $150,000. Earning a DC does not cost anymore than getting a doctorate in any other health care field.

AMA - Medical Student Debt

Tuition and Fees - Logan College of Chiropractic and University Programs

New York Chiropractic College :: Financial Aid

Chiropractic Cost of Attendance | Life University

Financial Aid: Tuition

http://www.nycpm.edu/tuition.pdf

http://www.rossu.edu/medical-school/...l0910final.pdf


8. Chiropractors are not trained in medical diagnosis.

-16 of the 17 chiropractic schools teach medical diagnosis. The only hold out is Sherman College of Straight Chiropractic. However, some schools are considered to be better than others on this issue.


9. There is a high risk of stroke with chiropractic manipulations.

-It is true that patients have suffered strokes after receiving a manipulation in their cervical spine, such events are very rare, and thought to occur in about 1 out of every 1,100,000 manipulations of the neck. There are only a handful of cases where strokes have been a direct result of chiropractic manipulations.

Coulter ID, Hurwitz EL, Adams AH, et al. The Appropriateness of Manipulation and Mobilization of the Cervical Spine. Santa Monica, CA; RAND; 1996.


10. Chiropractors only know how to perform spinal manipulation.


-Chiropractors actually learn many different treatments modalities, including physical therapy, massage, nutrition, herbalism, heat and cryotherapy, and exercise therapy. Some are also trained in minor surgery and can prescribe certain medications.

D.C. Curriculum

http://uws.edu/Academic_Programs/Doc...Curriculum.pdf

Doctor of Chiropractic - Course List

NUHS Prepares DCs for Limited Prescription Powers in NM

Chiropractic Specialty Certification - Minor Surgery and/or Proctology - Oregon Licenses, Permits and Registrations

11. Chiropractors believe they can cure conditions like cancer or diabetes with spinal manipulation.

-Very few chiropractors today claim they can treat serious conditions with spinal manipulation and in many states, it is illegal for them to say that they can. However, many chiropractors do claim they can help with some of the symptoms of serious illnesses, such as pain management for cancer patients and nutritional advice for diabetics.

Chiropractic Care at Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA)

This is a random chriopractor's website, however, it is based on commonly used template that chiropractors use to make their clinic's website. On the left side, there is a section "We May Help You With", which shows the conditions that most broad based chiropractors believe they can treat with manipulation or other therapies.

Chiropractic Acupuncture Massage - Encinitas - Carlsbad - Rancho Santa Fe - Whiplash Accident :: Home


12. Chiropractic education does not involve learning basic sciences.

-All chiropractic colleges in the U.S. require students take the same basic sciences as most other health care programs. All chiropractic school also have fully functional physiology, biochemistry, and anatomy labs (these include dissections performed by students on all major system in the human body), and this has largely been the case for decades.

Canadian Professors Visit Three Chiropractic Schools (1962)

http://www.cleveland.edu/media/cms_p...58/model10.pdf

Michael Tiso - LinkedIn

Parker College of Chiropractic | About Parker | Parker Overview | The Facilities

National University of Health Sciences - Graduate Guide School Details


13. 50% of chiropractors fail out of the field in the first 5 years.

This is a myth i have seen around the internet and finally found the source of it about 6 months ago. This "statistic" is spread by the people at chriotalk.com and is based on a poll they took of their forum members that left the field of chiropractic. It is in no way a scientific or representative poll.

Chirotalk: The Skeptical Chiropractic Discussion Forum - Student Loan Default Rate - Not bad

14. Chiropractors are paid much less early in their careers when compared to other health care professions.

-The typical chiropractic associate (a newly graduated DC working for an established chiropractic practice) makes about $40,000, which isn't great. However, if you compare that to a medical doctor in the equivalent stage of their career (medical resident), the pay is roughly the same. Just about every recently graduated doctor, whether they are a chiropractor, medical doctor, podiatrist, dentist, etc, makes a fraction of what established members of their profession are making. The low starting pay is not unique to chiropractic.

Answers.com - Medical resident salary

What Is a Chiropractic Associate?





Well that is all I have for now. I am sure I will think of more eventually but this should generate enough discussion in the mean time.