What is the Difference Between Chiropractor and Physiotherapist?
Chiropractic Care and Physical Therapy
A chiropractor is a primary health care provider that can see you for a variety of illness or injuries. Of course, they provide treatments for painful conditions of the spine and extremities using chiropractic adjustments as well as using physiotherapy modalities of heat, cold, electrical stim, ultrasound, laser, light therapy, exercises, etc. Also they provide nutritional and lifestyle advice. And may help you with problems outside of purely “musculoskeletal” issues. For example see this post. Many people use their chiropractor as a primary care doctor.
Similarly, physiotherapists (physical therapists) are providers of manual treatments; exercises, physiotherapy modalities, lifestyle modifications, etc to help people recover from injuries, strokes, chronic illness that impair mobility etc. They work along with your primary care to provide physical medicine treatment. Recently, physiotherapist have created a newer classification within physical therapy, known as the Doctorate of Physical Therapy. Definitely, this is an extended program of learning and training to achieve a PhD or “Doctorate” level within physiotherapy replacing the previous Master’s level program. With the DPT credential you no longer need a doctor’s prescription to see a physiotherapist (although your insurance may still require it).
Of course it depends on the therapist, but many today rely heavily on rehabilitative exercises rather than hands on treatments. On the other hand most chiropractors perform manual forms of treatment to your body.
The scope of problems treated by physiotherapists is more limited than chiropractors since DPTs only treat conditions of the physical body, movements, etc. while chiropractors may treat you for a wide variety of issues not just physical.
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