Chiropractic Licensure and Education

Currently, there are 16 chiropractic colleges in the United States (and 25 worldwide), ten of which were established prior to 1945. Over 14,000 young men and women attend these chiropractic colleges each year.

Admissions requirements of chiropractic colleges are influenced by the Council on Chiropractic Education standards and chiropractic licensing board requirements. A minimum of two to three years of undergraduate education is required, with successful completion of courses in biology, general chemistry, organic chemistry, physics, psychology, English/communication and the humanities. Each required science course must also include a laboratory unit. Most incoming freshman have obtained a Bachelor’s Degree.

Sixty credits or more must be completed prior to admission to a chiropractic college. Two colleges currently require 75 units, and one college requires 90 units. Currently, six state licensing boards require a bachelor¹s degree in addition to the doctor of chiropractic degree for licensure, and that number is continually on the rise.

A chiropractic program consists of four academic years of professional education averaging a total of 4,822 hours of course work. Several areas of study are emphasized during the course of chiropractic education:

1) adjustive techniques/spinal analysis
2) principles/practices of chiropractic
3) physiologic therapeutics
4) biomechanics

The practice of chiropractic is licensed and regulated in all 50 states in the U.S. and in over 30 countries worldwide. State licensing boards regulate, among other factors, the education, experience and moral character of candidates for licensure, and protect the public health, safety and welfare.

The National Board of Chiropractic Examiners (NBCE) was established in 1963 and functions quite similarly to the National Board of Medical Examiners. The NBCE maintains consistency and fairness among the state licensing boards. The NBCE also administers the national board examination necessary to practice as a chiropractor. This exam is divided into several specific sections:

Part I covers the basic sciences and may be taken after the first year of chiropractic college education

Part II covers clinical sciences and is administered when students are in their senior year of chiropractic college

Part III is a written clinical competency examination that requires a student to have passed parts I and II and be within eight months of graduation (or already graduated).

Part IV is a practical clinical competency exam that may be taken within 6 months of graduation (or already graduated).

Chiropractic Education	vs.	Medical Education
Class Hours	Subject	Class Hours
520	Anatomy	508
420	Physiology	326
271	Pathology	335
300	Chemistry	325
114	Bacteriology	130
370	Diagnosis	374
320	Neurology	112
217	X-Ray	148
65	Psychiatry	144
65	Obstetrics & Gynecology	198
225	Orthopedics	156
2,887	TOTAL HOURS	2,756

Other required subject for doctors of chiropractic:

Adjusting, Manipulation, Kinesiology, and other similar basis subjects related to their specialty.

Other required subjects for doctors of medicine:

Pharmacology, Immunology, general surgery, and other similar basic subjects related to their specialty.

GRAND TOTAL CLASS HOURS

CHIROPRACTIC	MEDICAL
4,485	4,248