What is the difference beten an osteopath and a chiropractor?

Question

I have a slight skoliosis. Who should i go to?

Answer 1

Both require a high level of education. Chiro's focus on the body's spine - and believe that everything can be aligned correctly via spinal manipulation.

Osteopaths focus on the body as a whole. They look at the whole picture - what causes what - and ensure that everything is in its correct place.

Plus osteopaths can manipulate the spine just as well as a chiro.

As a general rule - osteopaths work to get you better and generally fully focus on you during the treatment. Chiros generally attend multiple patients at the same time.

As for physios, they're more rehab orientated and tend to focus on large muscle groups rather than the finer points of the spine.

I'd go the osteopath.

Answer 2

a doctor of osteopathy goes through a similar length of training as a medical doctor, just with a more holistic focus (body-mind-spirit).  they are real doctors who specialize in many different areas of medicine.  

a chiropractor, on the other hand, completes only a few years of schooling.  they are more of a technician, than a doctor.  

Answer 3

You should go to neither. A highly skilled modern physiotherapist can give you body-core strengthening exercises suitable for someone in your position. Chiro manipulation can achieve nothing. Dangerous in fact. And an osteopath can only confirm your diagnosis. Not cure you. Some will recomend similar treatment to physio. Be as strong as you can be. Abdominal and spinal strength will be what helps in the long term, even for "slight" scoliosis.

ps. I'm not not a physio. Nor a patient of a physio.  

Answer 4

Chiros and osteos can take the same amount of training, which may be less than a full MD.  They do have slightly different foci, however the main difference is that when the AMA invited both professional groups to join, the osteos did and the chiros did not.  That is one of the main reasons that some doctors are ok on referring their patients to osteos but are not willing to refer their patient to a chiro.

I am not sure that manipulation is the way to go with a scoliosis.  I would suggest you go to a competent spine ortho, first - one with plenty of experience with scoliosis (ask the office manager); get his/her recommendations for long term care and exercise, and follow that advice.

Answer 5

There are really two questions here:

1. Who should you see for your scoliosis:

You need to have the reason for your scoliosis diagnosed. Is it idiopathic (ie. noone knows why...)? Is a temporary compensation to an injury or stressor? Is it because of an bony deformity in the spine (a hemi-vertebra)?

Is it causing you alot of pain? How old are you?

All of these points will help direct your care.

Chiropractic and Osteopathic physicians usually take four years of undergraduate work leading to a bachelors degree (Neither degree "requires" a bachelors, but most applicants have one.)

Then they do four years of work in their "professional" degree.

After that, many physicians will do additional work in residencies, fellowships, diplomates and post-graduate work.

2. The difference between a D.O. and D.C. is that D.O's can prescribe drugs. DCs do not prescribe drugs in most states, but do have almost 4x the education hours in nutrition and about 10x the education hours in musculoskeletal care.

Osteopaths have usually trained in spinal manipulation (in many DO schools, this is reduced to one or two core courses these days) and have much more training in the use of pharmaceuticals and surgery than their DC counterparts.

Most importantly, you should see a good orthopedic surgeon to see if you are a candidate for surgery or bracing. If you are not, you are best served in seeing a chiropractic physician for symptomatic care.

and... if the curve is "slight" and doesn't bother you. (assuming you have stopped growing), you most likely don't need to do anything.