What is the difference between chiropractic and physical therapy?
The main difference is that chiropractors’ expertise is in manual adjusting of the articular joints of the spine and extremities using short-lever adjusting techniques. Physical Therapists (PHT degree) are skilled in using exercises and stretches and a variety of physiotherapy procedures such as electrical stimulation, traction, ice, and heat for the purpose of improving function in a limb or joint. Physical therapy is usually prescribed for post-surgical rehabilitation. Physical therapists are not considered doctors and must have their patients referred to them by a medical doctor or chiropractor. They are not licensed to diagnose conditions. Chiropractors are licensed as doctors of chiropractic (DC degree) and are trained to diagnose musculoskeletal conditions.
Chiropractors take five years of classes in a 36 or 40 month period and focus on diagnosis, adjusting, and physical training. Physical therapists engage in an intensely competitive program to get into PT school, but they spend two years focused mainly on working different parts of the body to move in the way they should. While physical therapists are very good at what they do, they do not have the diagnostic or adjusting training that chiropractors have. Some patients are trying to obtain approval to take a short weekend course in adjusting and then have the legal right to do it, but chiropractors spend at least two years honing their skills and learning how to adjust, and more importantly, when not to adjust.
