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What does a chiropractic physician do?

Updated January 8, 2025
6 min read
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Chiropractic physician responsibilities

Here are examples of responsibilities from real chiropractic physician resumes:

  • Utilize medical devices such as traction, interferential, ultrasound, infrare, hot/cold therapeutics for musculoskeletal injuries.
  • Perform patient history/assessments, complete exams, consult with patients, and developed/implement treatment plans with strong focus on patient education.
  • Use mechanical traction and electric stimulation for pain.
  • Implement and educate staff on proper usage of HIPAA guidelines within the facility.
  • Use interferential muscle stimulation, therapeutic ultrasound, infrare, and hot/cold therapies to treat musculoskeletal injuries.
  • Educate patients and demonstrate the validity and effectiveness of chiropractic medicine, which result in a highly profitable business.
  • Structure and administer rehabilitation and therapeutic exercise protocols, assist on-sit medical doctor with laboratory diagnostics and trigger point injections.
  • Provide overall quality prenatal health care, gynecological services, patient triage, refer patients with complications, provide patient education service
  • Practice myofascial release, diversify and activator technique

Chiropractic physician skills and personality traits

We calculated that 33% of Chiropractic Physicians are proficient in Patients, Physical Therapy, and Rehabilitation. They’re also known for soft skills such as Empathy, Detail oriented, and Dexterity.

We break down the percentage of Chiropractic Physicians that have these skills listed on their resume here:

  • Patients, 33%

    Performed patient history/assessments, completed exams, consulted with patients, and developed/implemented treatment plans with strong focus on patient education.

  • Physical Therapy, 8%

    Communicated with base practitioners for physical therapy and medical management when required.

  • Rehabilitation, 7%

    Provide Chiropractic care, Rehabilitation, Acupuncture and KinesioTape treatments

  • Diagnosis, 6%

    Assisted Founder Dr. Christopher Guerrero MD with diagnosis and assessment during Medical Missions in the Philippines.

  • Soft Tissue, 4%

    Utilized clinical expertise to apply wide variety of techniques, focusing on Diversified, ArthroStim, and extensive soft tissue techniques.

  • Physical Exams, 3%

    Certified by the National Registry performing physical examinations for the Department of Transportation for Commercial Motor Vehicle Drivers.

Common skills that a chiropractic physician uses to do their job include "patients," "physical therapy," and "rehabilitation." You can find details on the most important chiropractic physician responsibilities below.

Empathy. One of the key soft skills for a chiropractic physician to have is empathy. You can see how this relates to what chiropractic physicians do because "chiropractors often care for people who are in pain." Additionally, a chiropractic physician resume shows how chiropractic physicians use empathy: "reviewed and explained insurance plans to patients to guarantee full understanding of payment policies and procedures. "

Detail oriented. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling chiropractic physician duties is detail oriented. The role rewards competence in this skill because "chiropractors must pay attention when diagnosing and treating patients to avoid mistakes that could harm them." According to a chiropractic physician resume, here's how chiropractic physicians can utilize detail oriented in their job responsibilities: "performed high level physical examinations and documented all findings through detailed examination reports. "

Dexterity. This is an important skill for chiropractic physicians to perform their duties. For an example of how chiropractic physician responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "chiropractors must have good coordination when performing manual adjustments to a patient's spine and other joints." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a chiropractic physician: "evaluate and treat new patients at a busy walk in clinic, primarily using high velocity low amplitude hands on techniques. ".

Communication skills. For certain chiropractic physician responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "communication skills." The day-to-day duties of a chiropractic physician rely on this skill, as "chiropractors must listen to patients and explain procedures clearly both orally and in written reports." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what chiropractic physicians do: "established excellent open communication with hospital based physicians on behalf of patients. "

See the full list of chiropractic physician skills

The three companies that hire the most chiropractic physicians are:

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Compare different chiropractic physicians

Chiropractic physician vs. Associate doctor

Physicians' general responsibility is to check, diagnose, and treat a patient's condition to improve their overall wellness. A physician could be General Practitioners or Specialist Physicians, wherein General Practitioners are physicians who provide regular checkups for patients depending on their needs and refer them to a Specialist Physicians who are more skilled in a particular field of expertise for a thorough diagnosis. Physicians monitor a patient's medical history and ensure follow-up checkups to observe if the condition of a patient is changing over time. A physician may refer a patient to other health professionals for further examination as needed.

If we compare the average chiropractic physician annual salary with that of an associate doctor, we find that associate doctors typically earn a $95,636 lower salary than chiropractic physicians make annually.Even though chiropractic physicians and associate doctors are distinct careers, a few of the skills required for both jobs are similar. For example, both careers require patients, physical exams, and mri in the day-to-day roles and responsibilities.

There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, chiropractic physician responsibilities require skills like "physical therapy," "rehabilitation," "diagnosis," and "soft tissue." Meanwhile a typical associate doctor has skills in areas such as "chiropractic," "pain management," "practice management," and "patient history." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.

Associate doctors really shine in the health care industry with an average salary of $64,154. Comparatively, chiropractic physicians tend to make the most money in the non profits industry with an average salary of $199,088.On average, associate doctors reach similar levels of education than chiropractic physicians. Associate doctors are 1.6% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and 5.2% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Chiropractic physician vs. Physician

A chiropractor is a healthcare professional who provides care and relief to patients with neuromusculoskeletal problems by re-aligning the spine and adjusting other joints. Your duties typically include working with patients on their lifestyle, guiding them on nutrition, exercise, and sleeping habits, and evaluating patients' condition based on their medical history and symptoms. Additionally, you will be responsible for examining the spine and posture, running tests and taking X-rays, and using massage, heat, and cold therapy to treat patients.

A career as a physician brings a higher average salary when compared to the average annual salary of a chiropractic physician. In fact, physicians salary is $88,197 higher than the salary of chiropractic physicians per year.Only some things about these jobs are the same. Take their skills, for example. Chiropractic physicians and physicians both require similar skills like "patients," "rehabilitation," and "diagnosis" to carry out their responsibilities.

While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that chiropractic physician responsibilities requires skills like "physical therapy," "soft tissue," "medical histories," and "acupuncture." But a physician might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "surgery," "internal medicine," "emr," and "family practice."

On average, physicians earn a higher salary than chiropractic physicians. Some industries support higher salaries in each profession. Interestingly enough, physicians earn the most pay in the health care industry with an average salary of $169,042. Whereas chiropractic physicians have higher pay in the non profits industry, with an average salary of $199,088.physicians earn higher levels of education than chiropractic physicians in general. They're 6.4% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 5.2% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Chiropractic physician vs. Chiropractor

On average, chiropractors earn lower salaries than chiropractic physicians, with a $97,082 difference per year.By looking over several chiropractic physicians and chiropractors resumes, we found that both roles require similar skills in their day-to-day duties, such as "patients," "rehabilitation," and "mri." But beyond that, the careers look very different.

Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from chiropractic physician resumes include skills like "physical therapy," "diagnosis," "soft tissue," and "physical exams," whereas a chiropractor is more likely to list skills in "spine," "manual adjustments," "musculoskeletal system," and "health problems. "

Chiropractors make a very good living in the professional industry with an average annual salary of $64,134. On the other hand, chiropractic physicians are paid the highest salary in the non profits industry, with average annual pay of $199,088.chiropractors typically earn similar educational levels compared to chiropractic physicians. Specifically, they're 0.2% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 10.3% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Chiropractic physician vs. Chiropractic internship

Chiropractic interns tend to earn a lower pay than chiropractic physicians by an average of $78,527 per year.While both chiropractic physicians and chiropractic interns complete day-to-day tasks using similar skills like patients, soft tissue, and physical exams, the two careers vary in some skills.

Even though a few skill sets overlap between chiropractic physicians and chiropractic interns, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a chiropractic physician might have more use for skills like "physical therapy," "rehabilitation," "diagnosis," and "acupuncture." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of chiropractic interns require skills like "physical therapy modalities," "patient history," "appointment scheduling," and "vital signs. "

Chiropractic interns reach similar levels of education compared to chiropractic physicians, in general. The difference is that they're 0.0% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 36.0% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Types of chiropractic physician

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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