As with all professionals who work in the health-care industry, chiropractors focus on the patient's health. We often serve as primary-care providers, just as medical and osteopathic doctors often do.

Doctors of chiropractic are licensed as health-care professionals in each of the 50 United States as well as many countries, and our care is covered by government health-care programs (e.g., medicare and medicaid) as well as many private health-insurance programs.

While the services we provide are similar in some ways to the services offered by other health-care practitioners, our approach is different. The following is a brief explanation of how the education we receive and the philosophy we adhere to are different relative to other health-care practitioners.

Education
Doctors of chiropractic receive professional education on par with medical and osteopathic doctors. To receive the doctor of chiropractic degree, which is only attainable from an accredited chiropractic college, candidates must complete extensive undergraduate prerequisites and four years of graduate-level instruction and internship.

The following chart summarizes the required subjects covered in both medical and chiropractic institutions and the corresponding classroom hours.

Upon completion of the academic and clinical portion of education, each candidate must then pass both federal and local (state) board examinations in order to receive a license to practice chiropractic. To maintain licensure, most states require continuing education, and most chiropractic doctors continue to educate themselves by taking postgraduate courses and staying current by reading the latest scientific research.

Philosophy
Although chiropractic shares much with other health-care professions, its emphasis on and application of its philosophy distinguishes it from modern medicine. Chiropractic is not merely a method of adjusting a person's spine or correcting subluxations; rather, it is a set of beliefs about the human body. Some core beliefs:

• The nervous system has a direct relationship with both the structural and physiological capacities of the body.
• Normal nerve expression is necessary for restoration of health.
• The cause of the illness/ailment needs to be understood in order to eliminate it.
• The recuperative capacity of the body allows the body to regain normal function without the use of drugs or surgery.
• The mind-body relationship is instrumental in maintaining health and in the healing process.
• Dynamics exist between lifestyle, environment, and health.
• The end result is a healthy mind, body, and spirit. Health on the inside and outside. And the ability to enjoy life at its fullest-which is what you deserve.