Is Being a Chiropractor A Stressful Job?

finding a job for a chiropractor

• I graduated from chiropractic school in 1996, and have a BA in Psychology, now I am looking for a job but not as a chiropractor.What other health related fields do you suggest that I may be qualified based on my background

• Answer:

  Hello, dbdc-ga! I understand your desire to move away from strict chiropractic work and use your training in psychology to merge both aspects of your education into an enjoyable career. I have put together some thoughts for you. You may like all, some, or none of the following suggestions, but I hope at least a few will be helpful. Some ideas may be a little offbeat, but they may also spark some imagination! Though many of the suggestions do involve an aspect of chiropractic work, you can always entertain the though of supervising other "hands-on" chiropractors while creating your own position for psychological consulation. ========== MEMORY RELEASE "Body Memory - The Missing Key to Self-Healing." http://hmrtec.com/bodymemory.html (Note that Charles Daily is a former chiropractor!) "Have you ever met an old acquaintance that seems to have gotten younger and healthier since the last time you saw them? It doesn't happen too often, but when it does, it's exciting. It tells us that the body can let go of old habits and correct problems even at a cellular level. This area has become very interesting to many people in the fields of health and psychology, who feel that physical patterns, which were considered unchangeable, are in fact less fixed than we used to believe." "One such researcher is Charles Daily, who over the past seven years has been experimenting with a new approach to assisting the body to release its internal limitations. After a long and successful career in natural medicine, acupuncture, and chiropractic, Dr. Daily was still concerned that most patients kept showing a characteristic personal "syndrome" of complaints around which they defined their own level of health as better or worse. Even after they were "healed" of an acute crisis of illness, their bodies still had a tendency to fall back into old problems as soon as they were challenged by stress in their jobs or personal lives. He began to wonder why a given individual would hold onto these vulnerabilities for so long." "His research has led to the development of a new technique called Holographic Memory Release, or HMR. Combining his knowledge of the principles of both acupuncture and chiropractic, Dr. Daily has evolved an efficient and non-invasive method for helping the body to perceive and release its old habits or reactions. He observes that the muscles and nerves will always attempt to handle a new problem by using an available strategy learned at an earlier time. In other words, we keep repeating patterns of "holding ourselves together" which were established early on, often in childhood. The problem is that we were often under extreme stress while we were attempting to respond to life's challenges, and our ability to process information effectively was compromised. These incomplete solutions were laid down in the nervous system as "somatic memories" which then become unconscious guidelines for how we stand, walk, and breathe." Read more..... ======= CHIROKINETIC THERAPY "Chirokinetics -- The Inherent Psychology in Chiropractic Practice," by Edwin H. Kimmel, DC, DABCO, FICC, FACC. http://www.chiroweb.com/archives/15/19/14.html "The aim of chirokinetic therapy is to free the body of neuromuscular tensions, thereby allowing an increased capacity for feeling. The "muscular armor" is furthered softened utilizing neo-Reichian, psychokinetic, myofascial and other modified muscular techniques. Simultaneous work on the character structure and the physical structure is recommended for more rapid progress." "Grief, fear, rage, resentment, anger, and emotional pains that have been held in by muscular rigidity since childhood begin to emerge into consciousness as the physical contact with these tensions induces relaxation. As the work progresses, structures soften and many chronic tensions disappear. The participant becomes more open and direct, with an increased capacity for health aggression, which furthers emotional growth and maturity. In time the voice becomes more resonant, expressions soften, postures straighten and become more relaxed, movement is freer, and the capacity to experience profoundly gratifying. Increased sexual feelings and tenderness occur as the tensions begin to melt away. Positive changes are frequently reported in every aspect of interpersonal relationships." "These deep changes are not easily achieved. They come from sustained, regular work with the body and the therapist. Such a psychostructural approach enables the patient to surrender negative patterns, embarking upon a new dimension of reality with physical comfort and emotional growth. Neurokinetics, chiroenergetics, chirokinetics or psychochirokinetics concern themselves chiefly with the release of residual muscular tensions associated with long, buried psychological traumas. It bridges the gap between mind and body, enabling patients to get more closely in touch with their body and feelings. It induces the release of muscular armor, thereby allowing for more mature, socially acceptable behavior and further emotional growth. It will frequently cause long dormant feelings, sensations and memories to surface, as the muscular rigidity associated with that feeling is softened and relaxed." "Sometimes with the aid of a psychotherapist, the patient begins to understand the repressed experiential trauma or emotion, and can then deal with the feeling on a more realistic level." "The true physician does not treat disease, he treats people. The true physician never treats just a painful back, for example, he treats a person that has a painful back and he understands that the back pain influences the patient's total social behavior. The ramifications and complexities of low back pain on a person's personal affairs, economics, loves, hates, etc., may be more important than any other local pain or disturbed physiology. Furthermore, different diseases are produced by different personal problems, and different personality types react in various ways to the same disease or discomfort." Read more..... ======== POSTURE THERAPY Postural Therapy is an area that can involve psychological and physical attention to a patient's problems. Postural dysfunction may begin with a simple misalignment or a serious injury. Whatever the cause, the dysfunction can build upon itself and become severe enough that a patient needs a practitioner that can understand the psychological as well as the physical aspects of pain. Refer to the Pain and Posture Clinic's website and articles about postural therapy: http://www.danke.com/Orthodoc/post3.html ======== CHIROPRACTIC SPECIALIST: "Elizabeth Andrews Lecture." (24 May 1999) http://www.converge.org.nz/amanz/elizabeth_andrews.html "Elizabeth Andrews (BSc Hons, DC MMCA, LGSM, FRSA) is a specialist chiropractor for musicians." "Her two careers have given her enormous insight into the needs of practicing musicians, particularly their physical stresses and strains, and she is a firm believer in self-help and prevention." "Elizabeth Andrews has studied remedial and sports massage, reflexology, cranial osteopathy and Vega homeopathy, but her main interests lie with applied kinesiology and various types of chiropractic. She was invited to be trackside therapist for the Nottingham six-day ultra marathon, after which she published Muscle management (Thorson/Harper Collins), and she has taken part in several exchange visits to Moscow, Kiev and St Petersburg to demonstrate applied kinesiology and chiropractic." "She has a BSc in chiropractic and psychology and was Chair of both the Post-graduate Continuing Development Committee and the McTimoney Chiropractic Association." ======== You might glean some interesting ideas by reading through the "Arts Medicine Aotearoa New Zealand" newsletters at http://www.converge.org.nz/amanz/index.html The Mission: "To encourage arts and health practitioners to work together towards better prevention and management of health issues." ======== COMBINING YOUR TALENTS IN A COMPREHENSIVE FACILITY Is there some way you could get satisfaction out of working at a comprehensive treatment facility like the Southeastern Neuroscience Institute? http://snipa.neurohub.net/ You could be more than just a chiropractor, and more than just a psychologist! "Southeastern Neuroscience Institute specializes in adult and child neurology, chiropractic, clinical psychology and neuropsychology services." "We under one roof offer diagnostic evaluations, testing, treatment and consultation for injured workers, accident victims and others whose health problems require neurological, chiropractic, psychological and/or neuropsychological services. We also provide independent medical, psychological and neuropsychological evaluations for forensic (legal) purposes. We specialize in head, neck and back pain." ========= COMBINING PSYCHOLOGY AND CHIROPRACTIC INTO "CHIROPRACTIC NEUROLOGY" FOR BRAIN INJURED PATIENTS (This might allow you to get into more of a leadership, or overseer position in a rehab facility, or become involved in advocacy. Dealing with brain-injured patients certainly requires a background in psychology!) From "Place of Healing." Dr. John Dushatko. http://angiejim.homestead.com/placeofhealing.html "Dr. Duschatko has become very involved with brain injury advocacy and rehabilitation. He is on the Board of Directors of the Brain Injury Resource and Information Network of North Texas, and has presented at the Brain Injury Association of Texas' State Conference on the subject of brain injury rehabilitation." Chiropractic Neurology: "Chiropractic neurology is a field of health care in which the treating doctor is a chiropractor who analyzes and treats based on neurological findings and function. This type of doctor is sensitive to the fact that the human organism is a unit and that successful health care must be globally oriented rather than regionally oriented. Patient examinations are oriented so as to determine the functional strength of each part of the nervous system. Treatments are selected to specifically strengthen the weakened areas and to avoid strengthening the stronger areas until a balance is achieved. Chiropractic neurologists are trained to pick up on even the subtle changes and to introduce therapies that help bring brain development into balance." Drugs: "Drugs are systemic. That is drugs act on all parts of the body that they get to (due to physiological reasons some drugs may not get to the brain for example but other drugs might.) This is one reason for the side effects of drugs; the drug may be introduced to stop the action of an area of the left brain stem, but because the drug is systemic all areas of the body with the appropriate cell configuration will be affected. Chiropractic neurology is valuable in part due to the high degree of specificity that can be attained. This is very important in reattaining nervous system balance. If an area of the left brain stem needs strengthening, it is very important to not also strengthen the corresponding area on the right." Hemisphericity: "Hemisphericity is the term used to indicate an imbalance in functional ability or efficiency between the two halves (left and right) of the brain cortex. Because of brain interconnections, hemisphericity can show up as high blood pressure, hemorrhoids, differences in flexibility from side to side, double vision, ringing in the ears, sprained ankles, and a multitude of other conditions. Hemisphericity is important to the chiropractic neurologist as decreased function on one side of the brain is often a major component of problems in the body." == Also read "Brain injury patients now turning to alternative medicine for treatment," by Krista Hopson. University of Michigan Health System. (April 1, 2003) http://www.med.umich.edu/opm/newspage/2003/tbicam.htm Some excerpts: "An estimated 5.3 million Americans currently live with disabilities resulting from traumatic brain injury - damage to the brain caused by a sudden physical assault on the head - according to the Centers for Disease Control. And the recovery process can take months or years, depending on the severity of the injury. Often, patients with a traumatic brain injury experience chronic motor and cognitive impairment, in addition to seizures, and sensory and visual deficits, which affect mental and physical functioning." "The chronic nature of traumatic brain injury symptoms, in addition to the lack of definitive treatments for the injury, have turned more patients toward CAM therapies in recent years, says investigator Sharon McDowell, M.D., a lecturer in the U-M Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation." "It really underlines the high level of frustration that traumatic brain injury patients feel about the chronicity of their problems and the few proven therapies available to them," McDowell explains. "However, while there are some good CAM therapies available. Many of which we even recommend such as meditation and manual muscle therapies. But a lot of therapies are not good for patients with this type of injury. So, it was important for us to find out what CAM therapies patients are turning to, especially if they were not doctor-recommended." "The patients revealed that the CAM therapies they most commonly utilized were massage therapy, meditation, herbal medicine and chiropractic care. Both massage therapy and chiropractic care were used by patients to treat pain, while meditation was practiced for affective disorders and herbal medicine was taken for cognitive deficits." ========= NETWORK SPINAL ANYLSIS AND SOMATO RESPIRATORY INTEGRATION Would you be interested in using you psychology and chiropractic background to help pain patients with this method? (I don't know anything about this so it may be a bit off the wall...you would be in a better position to know if it is a viable healing method) Donald Epstein's Mainpage: http://www.donaldepstein.com/mainpage.htm See sections on the Healing Process, Spinal Analysis, Somato Respiratory Integration and Frequently Asked Questions. ========== USING PSYCHOLOGY AND CHIROPRACTIC MANIPULATION TO HELP WITH HYPERACTIVITY DISORDER "An evaluation of chiropractic manipulation as a treatment of hyperactivity in children," by Giesen JM, Center DB, Leach RA. J Manipulative Physiol Ther. 1989 Oct;12(5):353-63. Pub Med http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=2607226&dopt=Abstract Mississippi State University. The principle aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of chiropractic manipulative therapy in the treatment of children with hyperactivity. Using blinds between investigators and a single subject research design, the investigators evaluated the effectiveness of the treatment for reducing activity levels of hyperactive children. Data collection included independent evaluations of behavior using a unique wrist-watch type device to mechanically measure activity while the children completed tasks simulating school-work. Further evaluations included electrodermal tests to measure autonomic nervous system activity. Chiropractic clinical evaluations to measure improvement in spinal biomechanics were also completed. Placebo care was given prior to chiropractic intervention. Data were analyzed visually and using nonparametric statistical methods. Five of seven children showed improvement in mean behavioral scores from placebo care to treatment. Four of seven showed improvement in arousal levels, and the improvement in the group as a whole was highly significant (p = 0.009). Agreement between tests was also high in this study. For all seven children, three of the four principal tests used to detect improvement were in agreement either positively or negatively (parent ratings of activity, motion recorder scores, electrodermal measures, and X-rays of spinal distortions). While the behavioral improvement taken alone can only be considered suggestive, the strong interest agreement can be taken as more impressive evidence that the majority of the children in this study did, in fact, improve under specific chiropractic care. The results of this study, then, are not conclusive, however, they do suggest that chiropractic manipulation has the potential to become an important nondrug intervention for children with hyperactivity. Further investigation in this area is certainly warranted. PMID: 2607226 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] ======== The following reference page may spark some ideas on other future directions that might interest you! "Common Careers in Applied Human And Sport Physiology." http://academic.wsc.edu/nss/hhps/careersahsp.htm === I hope I have hit on some suggestions that are interesting to you. Please let me know if I can provide further clarification *before* rating this answer and I will be more than happy to help if I can. Good luck in your future endeavors! umiat-ga Google Search psychology and chiropractic using psychology with chiropractic careers related to chiropractic and psychology chiropractic AND brain injury