D. D. Palmer founded chiropractic in the 1890s and his son B.J. Palmer helped to expand it in the early 20th century. A chiropractor is a profession that focuses on the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of mechanical disorders of the musculoskeletal system. Chiropractors emphasize manual therapy including spinal manipulation and other joint and soft tissue manipulation. Traditionally, it assumes that a vertebral subluxation or spinal joint dysfunction can interfere with the body's function and its innate ability to heal itself.
Chiropractors obtain a first professional degree in the field of chiropractic. The U.S. and Canada require a minimum 90 semester hours of undergraduate education as a prerequisite for chiropractic school, and at least 4200 instructional hours (or the equivalent) of full‐time chiropractic education for matriculation through an accredited chiropractic program. Upon graduation, there may be a requirement to pass national, state, or provincial board examinations before being licensed to practice in a particular jurisdiction. Depending on the location, continuing education may be required to renew these licenses.
Right now this occupation is in high demand. The middle 50 percent earn between $45,710 and $96,500 a year. There are 85,000 chiropractors in the world among all these, 65,000 live in the United States.
Spinal manipulation, which chiropractors call "spinal adjustment" is the most common treatment used in chiropractic care. Spinal manipulation is a manual maneuver during which a three-joint complex is taken past the normal physiological range of movement without exceeding the anatomical boundary limit; its defining factor is a dynamic thrust, which is a sudden force that causes an audible release and attempts to increase a joint's range of motion. There are several schools of chiropractic adjustive techniques, although most chiropractors mix techniques from several schools. The following adjustive procedures are used by...