Education
Chiropractic college is a four year graduate level health education program with emphasis in the chiropractic sciences and additional advanced work in neurology, orthopedics and radiology. Chiropractic colleges are accredited by the Council on Chiropractic Education which is recognized by the U. S. Department of Education and the Council on Post Secondary Education. To obtain a list of chiropractic colleges see www.chiroweb.com.

Official Licensing Bodies
The practice of chiropractic care is licensed and regulated in all states of the US. Since 50 different legislative bodies are involved in this process, the scope of the education, training and licensure to practice chiropractic differs extensively in some states.

With the legislation of chiropractic care came the creation of individual State Licensing Boards, whose main duty it is to protect public health. The State Licensing Boards therefore control chiropractic education and also produce and regulate the examinations required for licensure in their respective states.

The State Licensing Boards may also require standardized national licensure examinations in addition to their own examinations, administered by the National Board of Chiropractic Examiners (NBCE). The examination by the NBCE consists of 4 parts: basic sciences, clinical sciences, written clinical competency examination and a practical examination. The NBCE, next to the State Licensing Boards, functions also as a principal testing agency for the chiropractic profession. The NBCE was established to foster consistency among the different state boards. Currently all states recognize the national examinations and require at least some part of it for licensure in their state.

In addition, The Federation of Chiropractic Licensing Boards was founded to further aid the development toward unified standards in chiropractic education and licensing. This body also assists in solving problems within individual state licensing boards as well as promotes the general communication, information exchange and other cooperation between licensing boards.

References:
Chapman-Smith, David. The Chiropractic Profession. West Des Moines, IO: NCMIC Group, 2000.

Chiroweb at www.chiroweb.com. Chiropractic College Directory.

Chiroweb at www.chiroweb.com. US Government Report on Chiropractic.

Redwood, Daniel and Micozzi, Marc. Contemporary Chiropractic. New York: Churchill Livingstone, 1997.

Content last modified on Sep 12, 2006