These two physical health professionals do not have the same degree of specialization.
Many people, at some point in their lives, require going to a professional to treat physical ailments such as muscle injuries, mobility difficulties and joint problems.
It is often thought that the professional work of physiotherapists and chiropractors is something similar, intervening in many cases in the same health problems.
It is for this reason that there are many who wonder what differences there are between physiotherapy and chiropractic, being the objective of this article to reveal how they differ.
The 6 Differences Between a Physical Therapist and a Chiropractor
Both chiropractic and physiotherapy have in common the objective of treating and improving the health status of people who use these two health disciplines. In addition, they agree to avoid the use of drugs and other invasive techniques such as surgical interventions.
Actually, their differences are more conceptual than practical, since both chiropractors and physiotherapists coincide in intervening in many medical problems.
Below we will describe how these two disciplines differand why it is important to know how to choose the professional who will best be able to attend and treat us.
1. Training required
To be a physiotherapist it is necessary to study the university degree of physiotherapy, which is recognized as a health science. Its duration is about 4 years.
In addition, once the graduate is obtained, the physiotherapist can expand their knowledge by studying master’s degrees specialized in state-of-the-art techniques.
On the other hand, chiropractors require another way to train. To become a chiropractor it is necessary to study in specialized schools in chiropractic, such as the College of Chiropractic, which has campuses all over the world. On average, the time needed to train in chiropractic is about 6 to 7 years.
2. Type of intervention
As we have already mentioned, both disciplines aim to improve the health status of patients, however, they differ in the way they treat health problems.
Chiropractic holds that many health problems are caused by misalignment of the spine.
If the vertebrae are not properly positioned, they affect the transmission of the nerve impulse since the nerves are tense. This causes the person to sufferback pain, numbness of limbs and loss of touch and muscle strength.
Based on this, chiropractors intervene in this problem by carrying out the technique of vertebral manipulation, which consists of readjusting the spine, detecting subluxations and correcting them.
In this way the person stops suffering the pain caused by a disorder at the level of the nervous structure.
Physiotherapists, on the other hand, more generally cover patients’ bodies. Starting from the same objective of fixing the patient’s problem, physiotherapy addresses muscle and skeletal pain by locating the focus of pain.
Once the physiotherapist has found the areas where there is an injury or a specific problem, he is ready to solve them through different types of non-invasive interventions.
Among the interventions carried out by physiotherapists are the correction of posture, recovering the mobility of legs and arms by intervening directly on them, teaching adequate physical exercises for sports preparation and improvement of neurological problems that can be addressed through psychomotricity.
Physiotherapists can intervene with multiple techniques: application of cold and heat, electrical impulses, ultrasound, laser, teaching therapeutic movements, psychomotor education, among others.
Because of this, physiotherapists can not only be found in medical consultations, but also in sport-related places such as gyms or sports academies.
3. Degree of personalization of therapy
Chiropractic has a reduced degree of personalization of therapy, since it is limited to intervening on the spine.
Chiropractors argue that many problems have their origin in a poor structuring of the spine, which is why most focus on adjusting the vertebrae of their patients.
On the other hand, physiotherapy, by covering the body in a much more holistic way, allows a much more personalized treatment to be proposed to the patient, focusing on the part where there is an injury or the one that wants to improve to have a better sports performance.
In addition, physiotherapy, by offering a wide variety of techniques, allows the patient to have a wide range of therapeutic options, being able to choose the one that he considers most appropriate to his tastes and the one that best suits his physical characteristics.
4. Diagnosis
Physiotherapy focuses on diagnosing and treating any problem related to movement, and its objective is to improve the mobility of the person, in addition to helping him avoid motor problems in the future.
In contrast, chiropractic is limited to detecting subluxations and associating them with the symptoms reported by the patient.
5. Healing vs. Counseling
Both physiotherapy and chiropractic are intended to cure injuries and health problems of patients.
However, there is a nuance between both disciplines. Unlike in chiropractic, physiotherapy is not only intended to fix the patient’s health problems, it is also intended to give both health and sports advice in healthy people.
Thus, while in chiropractic its function is more focused on solving problems once they have occurred, in physiotherapy it is intended to avoid them, giving advice to carry out good health habits and maintain the muscular and skeletal system in an optimal state.
6. Compatibilidad con otras disciplinas sanitarias
La quiropraxia, al enfocarse mayormente en la columna vertebral, en la práctica tiene poca compatibilidad con otras disciplinas de la salud, dado que es habitual que médicos, cirujanos y enfermeras, en caso de ser recurridos antes que a un quiropráctico, solucionen los mismos problemas y no sea necesaria una derivación a este profesional.
En cambio, los fisioterapeutas pueden ejercer su trabajo de forma conjunta con otros muchos profesionales, incluidos psicólogos y psiquiatras.
Assuming that many muscle injuries are the result of high levels of stress that can cause tension in the muscles, there are many physical and mental health professionals who refer their patients to physiotherapists to treat this type of problem.
References
- Chevan J., Machlin S. R., Yu W. W., Zodet M. W. (2011) Determinants of utilization and expenditures for episodes of ambulatory physical therapy among adults. Physical Therapy. 91(7);1018–1029.
To the classic question “what do you do?” I always answer “basically I am a psychologist”. In fact, my academic training has revolved around the psychology of development, education and community, a field of study influenced my volunteer activities, as well as my first work experiences in personal services.