“A chiropractor wishes he were a doctor, just like those people outside Spago wish they were actors.“

Teri Garr, Actress

Pros and Cons of Working as a Chiropractor

You dream about a career as a chiropractor but are still not entirely sure that this job will be the right way to go for you or not? Great!

Make sure to stick with me since I will show you all the pros and cons of being a chiropractor so that you can make a more profound career choice.

Chiropractor Job Profile

Advantages of Being a Chiropractor

1. Chiropractors can make decent money
2. You can invest enough money for retirement
3. Easy to get a mortgage as a chiropractor
4. Good job prospects
5. Increasing demand for chiropractors in the future
6. You can work rather independently
7. Chiropractors can help out many people
8. You can plan your life way ahead
9. Working as a chiropractor can give you meaning in life
10. You can work indoors as a chiropractor
11. Being a chiropractor is not that stressful
12. You can start your own chiropractic office
13. Rather moderate working hours for chiropractors
14. You will often have free weekends
15. You can make money on the side
16. Chiropractors can help out their loved ones
17. You can start your own digital channels

Chiropractors can make decent money

One advantage of being a chiropractor is that you can make decent money from your job.

In fact, if you are willing to put in the work and your clients are happy with the results, you will even be able to make a six-figure income on a regular basis while garbage collectors and many other people can just dream about making this kind of money.

Hence, you will be able to make more money than in most other professions as a chiropractor and if money and luxury are really important to you, it can definitely make sense to become a chiropractor, even though you would likely make even more money as a regular doctor.

You can invest enough money for retirement

Since you will be able to make good money from your occupation, you will also be able to save and invest enough money for retirement.

In turn, while many other people out there really struggle to save up enough money for retirement age, you will not have to worry that much in this regard and can have a decent lifestyle while still having enough money left at the time you will no longer be able to work.

Easy to get a mortgage as a chiropractor

Another upside to becoming a chiropractor is that you will also have a pretty easy time getting a mortgage.

Thanks to your decent salary, banks will often be more than happy to grant you a loan or a mortgage since those banks know that the likelihood of you paying it back in a relatively short period of time is pretty high and that you will be a reliable debtor.

Consequently, while many of your friends who will make less money will have to rent for quite a long time, you will enjoy the luxury of buying your own home and this can also serve as additional protection for retirement since you will not have to pay rent once you get older anymore.

Good job prospects

In many regions, chiropractors also enjoy pretty good job security.

In fact, if you are really good at what you are doing, your clients will be happy to recommend you to their friends and this means that you will get more jobs than you could ever work on.

In turn, you will not have to worry about becoming unemployed as a chiropractor and can rather even expand and make even more money if you are willing to put in the hours.

Increasing demand for chiropractors in the future

People will get much older in the future and this means that there will also be an increasing demand for chiropractors since old people are just much more vulnerable to health conditions.

Therefore, you will also have more than enough to do in the future and while many other people will lose their jobs due to artificial intelligence and machine learning, you as a chiropractor will not have to worry about this that much since human work in this field is hardly replaceable.

Hence, becoming a chiropractor can also make quite a lot of sense for you in case you want to have a secure job for many years or even decades.

You can work rather independently

Another benefit of working as a chiropractor is that you can do your job rather independently.

Quite often, you will have your own methods and your own knowledge that deviates from the standard medical knowledge doctors will propose.

In fact, every chiropractor has his or her little secrets to cure diseases and this means that you will also be able to work quite independently as long as your clients trust you.

You will also not have a boss looking over your shoulder all day long as in many other jobs.

If you have your own chiropractor’s office, you will even be able to do everything according to your plans and don’t have to compromise with other opinions which will give you even more freedom regarding how to structure your day.

Chiropractors can help out many people

You will also be able to help out many different people as a chiropractor.

Quite often, people will come to your office since they will just no longer know what to do and how to cure their health problems.

If you can help these people, they will often really appreciate your work and will highly recommend you to everyone else.

Moreover, you can also get a great feeling from curing those people since you know that you can improve their overall quality of life quite a lot.

You can plan your life way ahead

Thanks to your good salary and your decent job prospects, you will also be able to plan your life way ahead as a chiropractor.

For instance, you will not have to worry about whether you will be able to financially afford to have kids or not since you will be easily able to pay for them.

Moreover, you will also be able to afford a nice home and some other nice things in your life.

You can also invest in an emergency fund to set money aside for financially difficult periods of your life so that you are covered in case of emergency.

Working as a chiropractor can give you meaning in life

Many chiropractors are also not just in for the money or for the additional benefits that come along with a chiropractor career.

Instead, they mainly work in this field since they just want to make people happy and this gives them a purpose in life.

In fact, just working in your job for the money will almost never work out in the long run since you will lose interest in what you are doing sooner or later and will often become quite frustrated over time.

Hence, becoming a chiropractor can be great for you in case you really want to help people by curing their health issues and by improving their overall quality of life in general.

You can work indoors as a chiropractor

As a chiropractor, you will also not have to work outdoors as many other people have to do during times of bad weather.

For instance, while construction workers, roofers or garbage collectors have to work under quite inconvenient conditions, you will be able to enjoy a rather relaxed workday inside your office walls as a chiropractor and can even use air conditioning or heating to make your workday as comfortable as possible.

Being a chiropractor is not that stressful

Another advantage of a chiropractor career is that you will also not have that much stress at work. Sure, some clients can be difficult and may just not be satisfied with how you do your job.

However, most of your clients will be quite happy with the results if you know what you are doing and this will allow you to have a nice chat with them.

Moreover, you will also not have the same level of time pressure as in many other jobs out there in the corporate world and your workday will just be much more relaxed in general.

You can start your own chiropractic office

You will also not have to work as an employed chiropractor until you retire. If you wish to have your own chiropractor’s office, you will be able to get one sooner or later.

You can also just work as an employed chiropractor for someone else and then make the transition to your own business after a few years.

Hence, becoming a chiropractor can also make quite a lot of sense for you in case you want to have your own business one day and don’t want to work as a regular employee forever.

Rather moderate working hours for chiropractors

You will also be able to enjoy moderate working hours as a chiropractor.

In fact, your office hours will often be rather short and this means that you will also be able to come home early from work quite often.

In fact, most chiropractors don’t work more than 40 hours on average and if you have your own chiropractor business, you may be able to outsource many annoying tasks and may be able to work even less.

You will often have free weekends

Not only will you have rather short workweeks, but you will also not have to work on weekends.

This will give you plenty of time to spend on your hobbies or with the people you love the most.

Moreover, most chiropractors also report pretty good work-life balance in general and are pretty happy with the mix of workload and leisure they will experience on average.

You can make money on the side

If you are willing to work really hard, you can also make significant money on the side as a chiropractor.

In fact, if you are really good at what you are doing, people will often recommend your services to their family and friends and you can treat those people in the evening or on weekends.

Sure, this would also take away some leisure from you. Yet, it can also greatly help you in periods when you urgently need additional money.

Chiropractors can help out their loved ones

Not only can you make many clients happy as a chiropractor, but you can also help out your loved ones.

In fact, many of your friends will develop health conditions sooner or later and they will search for qualified advice in this regard.

As a chiropractor, you will often have extensive medical knowledge and can treat your friends and your family members to get relief for them.

In turn, they will often be pretty happy and grateful for your support and will also often help you out in various other parts of life.

You can start your own digital channels

Thanks to our modern technologies, you will also be able to leverage digital channels as a chiropractor.

Not only can you promote your work on the internet to acquire your clients, but you can also give people some information on how they can treat minor health issues themselves.

In turn, your audience will be pretty happy for your support and chances are that you will be able to monetize your audience sooner or later.

In fact, there are some chiropractors out there who make really good money from blogging or from starting a YouTube channel and if you are really willing to put in the work and to learn these digital skills, golden times will lie ahead of you.

As you can see, a chiropractor career can make sense for you for various reasons.

Yet, there are still some problems with it that I want to discuss for you in the following so that you get a more realistic view of what working as a chiropractor really looks like.

Disadvantages of Working as a Chiropractor

1. You will not make as much money as normal doctors
2. Chiropractors have a questionable social standing
3. People will often not understand your career choice
4. Normal doctors will often make fun of you
5. You may get sued by your clients
6. Mistakes can ruin your reputation
7. You can’t work in the medical field in foreign countries
8. Chiropractic often relies on outdated knowledge
9. You have a high level of responsibility
10. Teleworking will not be possible for chiropractors
11. Hard to switch to a different industry
12. You need a college degree for becoming a chiropractor
13. You may lose your license

You will not make as much money as normal doctors

One downside to becoming a doctor is that you will often just not make as much money as normal doctors or dentists.

Sure, you will still be able to make a decent income from what you are doing.

However, if you really want to make the big bucks and have a really luxurious life, chances are that you should become a normal doctor instead of a chiropractor since the higher end of the salary bracket is just multiple times higher.

Chiropractors have a questionable social standing

There are also many black sheep in the chiropractor industry.

In fact, there had been many scandals in the past in this regard and you will therefore also have to deal with snarky comments from people who don’t know your quality of work, even though you might do a great job.

In fact, chiropractors will just not have the same high social standing as normal doctors since you will just not save as many lives.

Consequently, before becoming a chiropractor, make sure that the opinions of others don’t bother you and that you can ignore snarky comments in this regard.

People will often not understand your career choice

Also your family and friends may not understand your career choice.

They will often just not understand why you want to become a chiropractor instead of a real doctor.

In the long run, comments in this regard can become quite annoying and you should really make sure that you are really convinced that a chiropractor career is more suitable than a regular medical career so that you don’t get discouraged in the long run.

Normal doctors will often make fun of you

Not only the general public will often belittle your work, but also doctors will often make fun of chiropractors.

In fact, many doctors are quite arrogant and will not accept chiropractors as a valid part of our medical system.

Consequently, you will also have to deal with critical comments of many doctors out there who may not consider you equal but rather as a person who doesn’t know as much medical stuff as they do.

You may get sued by your clients

Another problem with being a chiropractor is that your clients may even sue you in case you make mistakes.

This can not only be quite annoying, but you will also have to expect harsh financial consequences if you lose those lawsuits.

In fact, you should get proper insurance for such a case so that you are covered in case of financial emergency and don’t have to declare bankruptcy if such a thing happens.

Mistakes can ruin your reputation

The chiropractor business really lives from trust people have in your abilities.

Hence, if you make big mistakes, your reputation will often suffer quite a lot and potential new clients will often stay away from your chiropractor’s office.

You can’t work in the medical field in foreign countries

You will also often have a pretty hard time if you want to migrate to another country as a chiropractor.

Quite often, your medical education will not be enough to work in the medical field in foreign countries and this means that you will have to invest lots of time and money in additional education to be able to work as a chiropractor abroad.

Hence, if you plan to move to a different country one day, you should rather become a real doctor instead of becoming a chiropractor to avoid any issues in this regard.

Chiropractic often relies on outdated knowledge

Opponents of chiropractic also frequently state that chiropractors often rely on outdated knowledge to do their work.

In fact, many chiropractors don’t inform themselves about latest medical findings and still apply old methods that are no longer state-of-the-art anymore.

You have a high level of responsibility

You should also not underestimate the level of responsibility that comes along with being a chiropractor.

Your mistakes can potentially cause serious health issues for your patients and you therefore have to stay focused at work every minute of your workday.

Teleworking will not be possible for chiropractors

Another disadvantage of becoming a chiropractor is that you will also not be able to work from home.

Instead, you will always have to be present in your chiropractor’s office in person and will not enjoy the benefits that come along with working remotely.

You will also have to spend more money and time commuting compared to other people who can work entirely or at least partly from home.

Hard to switch to a different industry

While you will be able to acquire decent medical knowledge during your career, you will often still lack many important additional hard skills as a chiropractor.

In fact, many chiropractors don’t have sufficient knowledge about our modern technologies and about our digital world in general and will therefore struggle to work in a different field in case they want to quit their chiropractor career for several possible reasons in the long run.

You need a college degree for becoming a chiropractor

Another problem with becoming a chiropractor is that you will also need college degree and some additional certifications for working in this field.

This means that you will have to get extensive knowledge and that you have to invest lots of time and money on your education.

Thus, before you decide for a chiropractor career, make sure that you want to work in this field for quite a long time to make it worth the initial investment.

You may lose your license

Big mistakes on your side may also lead to a state where you lose your chiropractor’s license.

If this happens, you will often not have a backup plan and may really struggle to find another profession that pays enough to pay your bills.

Top 10 Being a Chiropractor Pros & Cons – Summary List

Should You Become A Chiropractor?

Now that you know all the advantages and disadvantages of being a chiropractor, you should take an honest look in the mirror and ask yourself whether your personal preferences and wishes are in line with this job profile or if you rather want to go for a different career instead.

If you are still not sure whether you want to become a chiropractor or not, also make sure to get detailed information on the salary, career prospects, working hours, educational requirements and job satisfaction of chiropractors.

Also make sure to check out the following articles to get more information on other job options:

Advantages and disadvantages of being a plastic surgeon

Advantages and disadvantages of being a judge

Advantages and disadvantages of being an economist

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiropractic

https://www.statista.com/statistics/228524/people-who-used-a-chiropractor-usa/

https://www.statista.com/statistics/196591/costs-and-profits-of-the-us-chiropractic-industry/

Own research and interviews.

About the author

My name is Andreas and my mission is to educate people about the different career paths that are possible in our current state of the world. In my opinion, people often make the mistake to choose their profession solely based on how much money they can earn from it instead of doing what makes them really happy.

This is quite sad and I just want to give people a more objective picture of how a fulfilling career could look like. I did the same when I started working in consulting after finishing my Master’s degree in Economics. However, I’ve quit pretty soon after that since I haven’t found true meaning in my job.

Now I can do what I really love to do and I want to enable as many other people as well to go this exciting path towards happiness instead of money.

I conducted various interviews with employees to give you a good impression of what working in different fields will look like and that you can make the best possible decision regarding your future career choice.

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