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Below is my response to an article that appeared in Askmen.com Men's magazine to the article, Is Chiropractic A Sham?, by Joshua Levine.

There are other inaccuracies, but I didn't have all day to respond to them.

* * *

Dear Joshua, 

I am writing to alert you to an inaccurate statement that was made in the article on "Is Chiropractic a Sham?". Specifically, it was stated in the article, "A doctor's license takes up to seven years to acquire, while in Maine, for instance, chiropractors only need two years worth of training to get a license". For chiropractors to be licensed in any state, there is a minimum requirement of 6 years of university level training (Chapman-Smith, 2000). All aspects of education must meet official accreditation standards, and a graduate must also complete state/provincial and national licensing board examinations before gaining the right to practice. Independent government and medical studies have concluded that chiropractic education is the equivalent of medical education in all of the basic sciences. (Dvorak, 1983; Coulter; 1998). In fact, the mean number of hours spent in both basic science and clinical training in chiropractic college was identified as 4822 hours as compared to 4667 hours for medical school (Coulter, 1998).

In regards to your reference to practice requirements for Maine, I refer you to the website for the state board of examiners which clearly identifies the requirements. The length of a chiropractic program (not including a minimum of 2 years undergraduate college education) is four academic years (Coulter, 1998) in either a year-round trimester program or a semester program. The minimum number of hours, as required by CCE (Council on Chiropractic Education) for accreditation, is 4200. I would encourage you to look at these requirements for yourself at http://www.cce-usa.org/ .

As both a researcher and Doctor of Chiropractic, I look to educate people about this wonderful profession. I hope as a journalist you will correct this inaccuracy, and allow those people who have been considering going to a chiropractor to make properly informed decisions. Please feel free to contact me further about this issue.

Sincerely,

Dean L. Smith, D.C., M.Sc., Ph.D (c) 
Associate Editor - Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research & Department of Psychology 
Miami University 
Oxford, Ohio 45056

References:

• Chapman-Smith, D. The Chiropractic Profession: Its Education, Practice, Research and Future Directions. NCMIC Group, Inc. Iowa: 2000.
• Dvorak J. Manual medicine in the United States and Europe in the year 1982. Man Med 1983;3-9.
• Coulter I, Adams A, et al. A comparative study of chiropractic and medical education. Alt Ther in Heatlh Med 1998;4:64-75.

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