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, Washington D.C., 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. Most of Dr. Haberstroh's teachers at CMCC were medical doctors for the first two years of school.

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 a rigorous National Board Examination. When Dr. Haberstroh graduated, there were two parts to the National Board Exam. Now, there are 4 parts. There is also an additional exam on physical therapeutics.  After this, a chiropractor must take and pass a state board examination in order to receive a license to practice chiropractic in a particular area. 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 some of the articles on the latest scientific research.

Post-Graduate Courses
Chiropractic Colleges years ago began realizing that there was just too much information to be learned in a 4 year basic curriculum plan. Accordingly, many of the schools began offering what are called "Diplomate" courses in various areas as post-graduate courses, usually held on weekends. Originally, Orthopedics was the sole post-grad course. The degree obtained was and still is called DABCO (Diplomate of the American Board of Chiropractic Orthopedics). Later, X-Ray was offered. Re-visit our page on X-Ray to learn about two of our most celebrated Diplomates in X-Ray. The X-Ray post-grad degree is called a DACBR (Diplomate of the American Chiropractic Board of Radiology). Phonetically, it is pronounced DAK-Bar. There are only 94 DACBRs in the world and they are generally considered to be the very best at interpreting skeletal X-rays. Dr. Haberstroh obtained two post-grad degrees in Neurologly and has completed over 1000 total hours of post-graduate study in many and varied subjects as one can see from viewing his CV. Over the years, many and varied post-graduate courses have been offered in a wide array of subjects. We in the Chiropractic profession are proud of the post-graduate courses and the high standards maintained in them. It has given the profession an extra edge in study, publishing and treatment expertise.

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.