Career options for Chiropractic Science at Murdoch University

Our Degrees are changing.

In 2014, Part I (first year) units will be introduced with Part II (second year and higher) units becoming available in subsequent years. Detailed information about Part II will be available here from mid-2014.

Find out more about our new degrees, or to get in touch and ask us what this means for you head to AskMurdoch. Continuing students can still access information for degrees commencing 2013 and prior in the Course Handbook.

Career options

Chiropractic Science is a primary healthcare profession concerned with the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of dysfunction of the neuro-musculo-skeletal system and general health. Your Murdoch degree in Chiropractic Science will give you the ability to recognise signs and symptoms of such diseases with their presenting pathology, patho-mechanical states, and related pain syndromes; differentially diagnose the problem and select appropriate therapeutic regimes or refer patients. Extensive clinic experience under direct supervision is required throughout this program to expose the student to the unique presentation and conditions of various patients.

Demand for Chiropractors is increasing in Australia and throughout the world, as public awareness and acceptance of the chiropractic treatment grows. Demand is also likely to be affected by an increase in the number of elderly people in the population, as this group is more likely to experience the types of disorders treatable by Chiropractic.

Chiropractor

Chiropractors, also known as Chiropractic Physicians, diagnose and treat patients whose health problems are associated with the body's muscular, nervous, and skeletal systems, especially the spine. Chiropractors believe that interference with these systems impairs the bodys normal functions and lowers its resistance to disease. They also hold that spinal or vertebral dysfunction alters many important body functions by affecting the nervous system and that skeletal imbalance through joint or articular dysfunction, especially in the spine, can cause pain.

The chiropractic approach to health care is holistic, stressing the patients overall health and wellness. It recognises that many factors affect health, including exercise, diet, rest, environment, and heredity. Chiropractors provide natural, drugless, nonsurgical health treatments and rely on the bodys inherent recuperative abilities. They also recommend changes in lifestyle - in eating, exercise, and sleeping habits, for example - to their patients. When appropriate, chiropractors consult with and refer patients to other health practitioners. Like other health practitioners, chiropractors follow a standard routine to secure the information they need for diagnosis and treatment. They take the patients medical history; conduct physical, neurological, and orthopaedic examinations; and may order laboratory tests. X-rays and other diagnostic images are important tools because of the chiropractors emphasis on the spine and its proper function. Chiropractors also employ a postural and spinal analysis common to chiropractic diagnosis.