What is Chiropractic College?

Ask the Chiropractor- What does one have to do to become a licensed Chiropractor?  #healthy815

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(upbeat music)- Hello, welcome to another edition of"Ask the Chiropractor." I'm Dr. Brant Hulsebus chiropractor here to talk to you a little bit about a question we get asked a lot. The question we get asked this week's"Ask the Chiropractor" is what does it take to become a chiropractor? I wanna become a licensed chiropractor. What do I have to do? So we get asked this question a lot because we host a lot of high school kids here in the local Rockford High School Academy program. So in the academy program here in Rockford the students pick one of four different academies. And one of the academies they can pick is Health Sciences. If you pick Health Sciences and your interest in the career chiropractic we have you come in and shadow us for the day. And then what we do is after they shadow us for a day then see what it's like to be a chiropractor for the day. And at the end of the school year, we take 'em on a bus trip to the Chiropractic College to answer this question. And a matter of fact for us here today, today's April 4th. Today is a day we do that. So we have a charter bus running. We have 43 students gonna go visit the school for the first time. And I'm taking a couple of Rock valley students with myself too. So let's today, since that's our focus of our practice and the focus of what's going on today and the future chiropractors in the world. Let's talk a little bit about what it-- Become a chiropractor. It has changed a lot over the years. So if you've heard any old stories or if you looked it up on the internet. You might be reading might have been true at one time but not might be true today. So let's talk about today first. So today the high school students that graduate high school and they have to complete about 90 hours before they can transfer into chiropractic school. If you complete your 90 hours before you transfer into chiropractic school then you will graduate chiropractic school both a doctrine of chiropractic, a post-graduate degree and a bachelor's of science and biology. The two classes some of em overlapped. So you're able to graduate both at graduation. This is what I did. This is what several of our doctors here did. Had a bachelor's of science and a doctrine from chiropractic school. Now, there are a few states that say your bachelor's of science must come from a different school than your chiropractic school. And there are several states that say you must have a bachelor's prior to going into chiropractic school. So depending on where you live, you wanna call your state chiropractic association asking those questions. That's the fastest way always, if you live in Arkansas I would call the Arkansas chiropractic association ask them what the rules are. You can call the actual state themselves if you want to move with the speed of government but call your local State association. Here in Illinois we have the Illinois Prairie State chiropractic association they can answer those questions for you. So you graduate high school, you complete two year courses pretty much focused on your(indistinct) intake. For me I went to university of Massachusetts under the pre-med title. So I was pre-med at university of Massachusetts taking classes towards becoming a chiropractor. I always knew I wanted to be a chiropractor but the classes are so similar, I just enrolled in the pre-med program. So that's what I did. And then I transferred into chiropractic school after three years of college. And again, I got both degrees at graduation. So you have to really, really like science classes. So you do all your science classes. So you do all your science classes, like chemistry, inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry, physics and stuff like that at undergraduate then you go into chiropractic school. And when you're in chiropractic school I'm gonna talk a little bit about Palmer Hall, Palmer set up. That's where I went to school, that's where my father went to school, that's where my grandfathers went to school, and that's where my uncles went to school. So I'm a little bias on the schools I'm gonna talk about but I'm gonna talk about Palmer. You can see right over here there's a purple banner hanging up. That's my output, that's my Palmer banner. So, Palmer College was where I went it's in Davenport, Iowa, there's also Palmer, Florida. Palmer, Florida was just starting when I was graduating. So today I don't know which one I would go to. There's something cool about Palmer Davenport, there is something cool about living in Florida. So there you go. So I went to Palmer college. Why Palmer college? Palmer college is where chiropractic started. Dr. Palmer was the first ever chiropractor. So Davenport, Iowa, Dr. Palmer gave the first ever chiropractic adjustment. That was for a guy named Harvey Lilard. Harvey Lilard had fallen downstairs hurt his neck after hurting his neck he lost his hearing. Dr. Palmer was able to find a spot, his neck gave him an adjustment, Harley's hearing reopened up. I believe he opened his sinuses. This is back in 1895, September 18th, 1895. So, we didn't quite have the medical records that we do today but he gave the adjustment to him and Harvey's hearing came back and they thought they found a cure for deafness. But in reality, they discovered a new science called chiropractic. So Davenport, Iowa, is where it all started. So you go to Davenport, Iowa, what you do then is you enroll in Palmer School. Now the thing about chiropractic school compared to normal college is that it's a postgraduate degree and everyone's required to take the same classes. So when you go to a chiropractic school, it's not like this guy's taking this class and you're taking this class. You're all in it together. You all start up classes and you all take the same classes at the same time. And what they've done is they've combined five years at college in the 10 trimesters. So chiropractic school is a little bit intense because you're there from 7:30 in the morning, your first year until classes probably end

around 3: 5:24

30, 4 o'clock. Then a couple days a week you also have dissection labs. So you're there quite a bit the first year. And the reason you're there quite a bit the first year and the reason why you dive into science so heavily the first year, is because we have National Board Examinations just like medical doctors do. And so our first national board examination is based on just the science classes, it's based on the fact that you sat through anatomy all day, stuff like that. So the first year is based around the national boards. You get to the first three trimesters and you get to the next three trimesters, four, fifth and sixth trimester. Now we're doing a little bit more hands on stuff. Now we're learn how to do physical exams. Now we're learning how to do motion(indistinct) patient that's when you feel the spine up and now see how it's moving. And it's also which I can learn how to finally do chiropractic. You know, we're finally learning our first adjustment moves. Your last year at chiropractic school, the 10 trimester system. Now the school has to get a little bit easier. You can always tell someone in their last year because the first year you're at school all day long, you're constantly reading books, you're constantly going to labs. You're last year, not so much, you're more hanging out in the clinic, you're taking adjusting classes. You're gonna spend more and more time in the student clinic because you see a medical doctor, they graduate and they go do-- They get assign to a hospital where they do their clinic rotations. In chiropractic school you're gonna do your clinical rotations right there. You're gonna see patients right there. So your first 50 adjustments you're just watching just watching, taking notes, noticing what you would do compared to what the other student doctor did. Your next 50 are actually on each other. So you will find alumni, classmates and(indistinct) If you have members, you don't take care of them what we call the student clinic. So the student clinic that's where you're doing really, really your first adjustments. And you usually get, at least at my time you got a reciprocal which meant some of your first ever adjustments were on that person. And that person's first ever adjustments we're on you. So Dr. Jason Gray, wherever you are, you had to experience my worst chiropractic care I ever gave. He was my first chiropractic patient. So I hope you're doing okay still buddy but that's kinda how it all starts, you got your reciprocal. Now for me, it was fun because a lot of my family goes to Palmer so, I had a cousin there and she was finish up. So I was one of her first patients since I had just enrolled you can see other students, she was just finishing, so she was able to work on me. So, one of my first student chiropractors is actually my cousins. So that was kind of fun. And I had cousins too that were going to university of Iowa that I was able to take care of when I was at school. So your first ones are kind of friends and family'cause they're supposed to forgive you. And after that you have to perform 200 adjustments on the public. So what they have is you move to the main clinic and in Davenport, they have clinics in, one in Illinois. That's where I was, I went to the Illinois side but they also have the other main clinic in Davenport, Iowa. People from the public come in and they could see, and you were with a staff(indistinct) above you, who will help you deliver the care. So when we graduate, we're able to go to work the next day. Where medical students, they graduated med school and they have to go do rotations and they had to pick their specialty. But in chiropractic school, we only have one specialty so it's real easy. The other fun thing about chiropractic school is the fact that you're going to school with people who are taking the exact same classes as you. I alluded to this earlier. So everyone's taking the same classes, everyone's having the same goal and there's no competition in chiropractic school. Like med school you're competing with other people for GPAs in order to go to certain hospitals you might wanna go to. In chiropractic school when you graduate, you're ready to go to work. You don't have to do anything else you just, you can go see patients the next day as long as you're licensed. So in chiropractic school is a little less competitive a little less cutthroat because we wanna see everyone succeed. We wanna see everyone do well. So study groups, helping each other out through school comradery with your classmates. I mean, some of the best friends I've ever made are my friends from Palmer. We've helped support each other and carry each other through a tough time. So that's chiropractic school. So then when you graduate you'll have a doctor's chiropractic and you'll have a bachelor of science more than likely. Some States don't require the bachelors still to this day, I know Illinois does not require it but certain States do. So you really have to give 'em (indistinct) association based on, what you're going for, how you wanna finish chiropractic school. Then you have National boards. Now, when I went to school, there was part one, two and three, and then some States had adopted part four. Today it's one, two, three and four. So there's four parts of National boards. And again, your education kind of matches right along with it. The first year of school is tough because you wanna do good in that first National board. Your second and third National board are very similar and they require on your clinical skills, being able to do exams and stuff like that. So that test is actually given the same time that you're going through those classes. So you'll complete those classes and you go right and take that test part two and three. And then the last part is part four is actually where you have mock patients that come in and you actually kinda walk through how you would actually take care of a patient. Whether it's the x-rays, whether it's examination or whether it's the chiropractic care itself. So part four is element really teaches your chiropractic skills and your chiropractic knowledge. Now I speak of this from secondhand because in Illinois when I graduated part four wasn't required. So I did not bother. I knew I was coming here, but yeah part four is now a real test. And there's a couple states that used to have State boards. I'm 95% sure that almost no State has a state board anymore but you might looking to get that too in order to get licensed. So then you're license and all you gotta do is continue with your continuing education like all healthcare professionals do. Every year you maintain your license and now you're a licensed chiropractor. So I kinda hope that answers the question about how you become a chiropractor. Like I said, you go to high school, then you go to undergraduate school. Then you go to chiropractic school. Chiropractic school is the equivalent of five years condensed into a little bit over three, but it's intense. It's 30 hours of trimester more or less in order to get it done as clear as you can. And after that, you have to pass licensing in order to get licensed in the United States. Now, as far as Canada and other countries you have to look at those individually. If you wanna do that go to chiropractic.org. Chiropractic.org that's International Chiropractic Association and they'll be able to tell you about different countries and how to get licensed in different parts of the world. I know there are still parts of the world that don't have chiropractors. So if you go there, you get to kind of write your own thing but there's also no pill battle because you have to write all your own stuff and your own policies and your own rules. So take a look at it, if you wanna become a chiropractor. And if you live in my area and you're watching this locally you wanna come talk to me more about(indistinct) Sure don't hang out on me, come on in talk to us. I'll talk to you about Palmer college, I'll talk about other schools too. I know this weekend, I'll be at Sherman Chiropractic School in South Carolina for a meeting. So I do know a little bit about some of the other schools. Like I said, I'm very partial to the purple and Palmer college, where it all started. All right everybody, if you have a question sometime you'd like to ask the chiropractor, feel free to leave it in comment below. We'll get back to you maybe next time and you can turn me on. I'll be doing your(indistinct) chiropractor. You can watch us on Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn and you can always go to our website rockforddc.com you can see it's going across the bottom. If you're watching Rockforddc.com, there's a blog there. All of our former "Ask the Chiropractor" questions are there. You know also there you can go back and look at 'em. If there's a search, you can search for different topics if you're looking for a different topic. Other than that, if you have a question, feel free to ask the chiropractor questions about chiropractic. If you have a question about your teeth you can ask your dentist. If you have a question about chiropractic make sure you ask a chiropractor and I'm happy to answer that question for you. Other than that, stay healthy, stay strong and we'll see you next week.(upbeat music)