Entrance into a Chiropractic college requires two to three years of college undergraduate work with basic science requirements of biology, anatomy, chemistry, physics, etc. Once the undergraduate requirements are finished then the ten semesters long (5 year course) of Chiropractic education begins. Apart from classroom work, the training includes an internship period in clinics operated by the school in which student interns care for patients under the supervision of Chiropractic instructors. Students often participate in an externship program in which they can work in the field under the guidance of private physicians.

Each student must pass the standardized National Board of Chiropractic examination in order to sit for the State Licensing Examination in the state he or she wishes to practice. Each state has individualized licensing laws and these tests and licensing requirements vary slightly from state to state.

Many people are curious as to how Chiropractic education compares to a traditional medical curriculum. The following chart was compiled from a review of the catalogues of 22 medical schools and 11 chiropractic colleges and updates from the National Health Federation Bulletin.



Chiropractic College     Medical School

     520     Anatomy          508
     420     Physiology        326
     205      Pathology        401
     300      Chemistry        325
     130      Bacteriology     114
     420      Diagnosis         324
     320      Neurology        112
     217      X-ray              148
     225      Orthopedics      156

Obviously, there are subjects where there is little similarity between the two. Chiropractors take extensive courses in Nutrition, Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation. Medical students take classes in Pharmacology (drugs) and General Surgery.

When medical doctors graduate from their 4 years of schooling they do not yet have their specialty. In order to become a specialist in musculoskeletal care a medical doctor does a residency in Orthopedics and becomes an Orthopedist specialist.

A Chiropractor gets approximately 2000 hours of musculoskeletal education "mixed in" with their 5 year Chiropractic course. Thus a Chiropractor is a musculoskeletal specialist.