Are Chiropractors Qualified to Function As Primary Care Physicians?
Chiropractors have many of the attributes of primary care providers and often describe themselves as such. Others say that chiropractic has more of the attributes of a limited medical profession similar to dentistry or podiatry. In this paper I will try to answer the question: Are Chiropractors Qualified to Function As Primary Care Physicians? I will use resources such as admission requirements to Chiropractic schools and general educational path and requirements for some one to become a chiropractor. Then based on this information I will try to draw a conclusion.
Ever since D.D. Palmer founded the first chiropractic school there was much misconception about the profession of chiropractic. It did not matter that people preferred chiropractic to the so-called allopaths in the early part of the 20th century. The American Medical Association was set to literally wipe out the Chiropractic profession. With publication of the Flexner report this was almost accomplished. Chiropractors had to literally fight for recognition and under some circumstances chose jail to protest the bias against their profession (Keating, C., 2005). Chiropractic profession went underground so to speak.
Lately the chiropractic profession has flourished again, under seemingly less than ideal conditions. A big boost to chiropractors was the success in an antitrust lawsuit against the AMA (Keating, C., 2005). This seemed to boost the chiropractic profession, but also new research seemed to indicate that chiropractic is actually a valuable tool in the treatment of some ailments (Bronfort, Evans & Haas, 2005). With this new research, a renewed trust by the public in chiropractic care one must ask the question: Are Chiropractors Qualified to Function As Primary Care Physicians?