Doctor of Chiropractic Curriculum Overview

Gain hands-on experience and develop medical expertise through our competency-centered chiropractic curriculum.

Apply to NWHSU’s Chiropractic Program

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Doctor of Chiropractic Curriculum Overview

NWHSU’s Chiropractic Degree Curriculum is the only Competency-Centered model in the country. What does that mean?

Clinical Internships Starting Trimester One. And your clinical experience only grows from there, we offer more practice than anywhere else, with the most internship sites.
Learn Everything You Came Here to Learn. Competency-Centered assessment means you won’t slip through the cracks without learning every skill we’ve identified as vital. And when something isn’t clicking for you? We’ll catch it early and help you succeed.
Classes and Professors that Work Together. We’ve de-siloed our curriculum, so you’ll experience professors team teaching to help you understand the connections between your courses, and how it all applies to clinical practice.
Flipped Classrooms to Fit How You Want to Learn. Most lectures will be hybrid allowing you to learn in the way that works best for you, and maximizing your on-campus time.

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Chiropractic Program length

Our comprehensive chiropractic program is typically completed in 3⅓ years.

Chiropractic course schedule, credits, and contact hours

Our chiropractic courses are offered through our full-time program, with classes held Monday through Friday, with some weekend classes required. Your chiropractic schooling will combine online and in-person classes and will prioritize early hands-on labs to build your chiropractic skills. Upon completion of your program, you will have logged more than 220 trimester credits and 4,300 contact hours.

1. Foundational Studies – You’ll gain an in-depth knowledge of the human body in T1-T4, with a review in T4 right before your Part 1 Boards and actively participating in patient care.

2. Become a Chiropractic Practitioner – Throughout your entire education you’ll prepare to apply a repertoire of assessment procedures, chiropractic adjusting skills, manual therapies and other techniques to patient care all guided by conservative care principles, best practices and using business essentials to support your future practice.

3. Person Centered Care – Becoming a doctor is about more than adjustments. Throughout your education you’ll gain the skills to effectively communicate, evaluate a patient presentation, arrive at the diagnosis and craft care plans that address the individual and their goals, values, and preferences.

4. Clinical Internships – You’re here to become a doctor, and at NWHSU you’ll start your clinical internships in trimester one. You’ll graduate with nearly 1500 hours of internship, culminating in your community-based internship in your final trimester.

Chiropractic program admission

Need to fit your chiropractic schooling into your already busy life?

Our flexible programs allow you to begin your chiropractic program when it works best for you. To accelerate your advancement, we offer a September and January start date as well as a partial start in May which allows students to complete three online courses before entering the program full-time in the fall.

View chiropractic program admission requirements

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Gain chiropractic expertise in real clinics with real patients

In addition to your chiropractic courses, you’ll develop clinical skills alongside licensed doctors of chiropractic—first observing, then assisting, and ultimately treating patients yourself, with experienced clinicians as your mentors.

NWHSU’s clinical education program is the best in the country. We offer real-time assessment, the most internship sites, and an opportunity to complete a preceptorship during your last trimester. Plus, we recruit patients for you, so you can focus on skill building.

Experience Immediate Clinical Exposure

Starting with your first trimester through trimester 5, you’ll observe doctors of chiropractic treating patients in their private practices and at NWHSU’s public clinics. You’ll begin learning to think like a doctor of chiropractic through your clinical observation experiences.

Develop Your Skills With Real Patients

In trimesters 6–10, you’ll take on increasing levels of responsibility in treating patients. You’ll become more technically proficient, interpersonally competent, and capable of managing your own practice. In trimesters 8-10 you will train in community based internships (CBI). These practices are found throughout the metro and within a 100-mile radius of the school You’ll work in established practices, treating a variety of patients with a range of clinical issues. Then, in trimester 10—the culmination of your chiropractic schooling—you’ll have the opportunity to intern at a clinic in the United States, or even abroad.

What is Chiropractic?

Doctors of chiropractic are healthcare professionals who view health and illness from a holistic perspective. Musculoskeletal structures, body function and the nervous system are closely interrelated – disturbances in one system can impact the others, affecting health and well-being.

They believe the human body possesses an inherent ability to heal itself. By using non-drug, non-surgical treatment methods, body function can be restored or rehabilitated – and further disability can be prevented.

For the benefit of their patients, doctors of chiropractic consult with, co-manage and refer to other healthcare providers.

Chiropractic instructor holds model of vertebrae

Student learns from a doctor of chiropractic in a clinic

What does a chiropractor do?

Doctors of chiropractic are primary contact providers who:

- Evaluate, treat, and prevent neuromusculoskeletal system disorders
- Adjust and manually manipulate the spine and other joints
- Treat soft tissue structures with manual therapies
- May incorporate mechanical methods and techniques such as activator, Gonstead, laser therapy, rehabilitation techniques, and active care
- Provide health and wellness assessments
- Care for patients in a variety of settings, including group practices, health systems, and integrative medicine clinics

Launch your career in a rapidly growing medical profession

More than 60,000 licensed doctors of chiropractic are practicing in all 50 states.
Approximately 15,000 chiropractors practice in the rest of the world, including all 10 Canadian provinces, Mexico, and more than 40 other countries.
Employment of chiropractors is expected to increase by 10% through 2031—faster than the average growth for all occupations, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Chiropractors practice in environments and through career paths that include solo practice, group practice, hospitals, medical clinics, and multidisciplinary settings.

Chiropractic instructor demonstrates a technique for a group of students

Begin your Doctor of Chiropractic degree journey today!

We’re here to answer your questions and guide you through the admission process. Let’s get you started.

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