Education Requirements for a Doctor of Chiropractic (D.C.) Degree

There is great confusion on the part of the public and prospective patients regarding the education of a Doctor of Chiropractic (D.C.). Several years of pre-requisite undergraduate courses are required prior to the application process of the potential student pursuing a Doctorate in Chiropractic. Most students entering Chiropractic College have already earned their bachelors degree. For their profession education, D.C.’s undergo similar hours in their educational requirements when compared with their Medical Doctor (M.D.) counterparts.¹ (See Table 1.)

Table 1.

A comparison of typical curriculum content and hours from accredited four-year programs in chiropractic and medicine.^2,3

Doctors of Chiropractic generally choose their future clinical focus while in school by taking numerous courses in a variety of Chiropractic Techniques. Most D.C.’s choose to focus their time mastering one “Technique” instead of being a “jack-of-all-trades”. Chiropractic BioPhysics^® (CBP^®) is one of these Techniques many D.C.’s choose to master. Doctors of Chiropractic who choose to earn their certification from CBP Seminars take coursework above and beyond the 4800 hours required for graduating a Chiropractic College.

Certification Training in Chiropractic BioPhysics^® Technique

The Techniques of Chiropractic BioPhysics have been proven in practice for nearly 30 years. And, for the past 15 years they’ve been subjected to several clinical trials, case studies, and the scrutiny of other types of peer-reviewed research publications. There are two levels of Certification Training offered by Chiropractic BioPhysics Seminars for D.C.’s wishing to master this technique. All of the CBP Training courses are approved for Continuing Education Credits by Chiropractic licensing boards in the majority of each of the 50 states; D.C.’s need Continuing Education to maintain an active license in their respective states each year.

Primary CBP Certification involves a D.C. attending 6 seminars to learn the fundamentals of CBP and successfully passing a test to demonstrate mastery of the technique methods. These 6 primary Certification courses total a minimum of 76 hours of training.

Advanced Certification is achieved through additional training in 6 more specialized seminars. Testing for Advanced Certification includes presenting a patient case study using CBP procedures to peers at a CBP conference (or in written form) and verifying the use of CBP-related spinal rehabilitative equipment in the doctor’s practice. These 6 Advanced Certification courses and the case study total a minimum of 88 hours of training. Thus, the D.C. whom achieves Advanced Certification training in CBP Technique has committed a minimum of 164 additional hours of Continuing Education Training!

So it’s safe to say that CBP practitioners know their stuff. And CBP certification shows they know it well.

References:

1. Chiropractic in the United States: Training, Practice, and Research. Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR). Publication No. 98-N002. December 1997. Chapter III. Chiropractic Training.

2. Center for Studies in Health Policy, Inc, Washington, DC. And

3. Unpublished data from Meredith Gonyea, PhD.

chiropractic BioPhysics, chiropractic education