What is a Chiropractic Internist?

A Diplomate of the American Board of Chiropractic Internists, or DABCI, has completed a three year post-doctorate course that ends in a three-part national board exam.

According to Medicare: The chiropractic internist may serve as a primary care physician or may see patients referred from other providers for evaluation and co-management. Evaluation is focused on the early detection of functional, nutritional, and pathological disorders. A chiropractic internist utilizes the diagnostic instruments necessary for proper examination. In cases where laboratory examination is necessary, a chiropractic internist utilizes a recognized reference laboratory facility. A chiropractic internist may manage his or her own cases or may refer to another specialist when prudent to do so. The chiropractic internist utilizes documented natural therapies, therapeutic lifestyle changes, patient education and other resources to promote patient health and avoidance of disease.

Simply put, Chiropractic Internists are doctors with the tools and training to diagnose a wide spectrum of conditions along with an education to use natural treatment options. In an era where more and more people have become concerned about the adverse reactions of prescription and over-the-counter medications, DABCIs are becoming a popular alternative. Every year, more and more patients are choosing DABCIs as the first doctor they visit when they get sick or are having health problems.

And because DABCIs are trained not only in medical diagnostics but also utilize more alternative, cutting edge testing and natural treatment plans, these alternative practitioners find themselves evaluating and successfully treating those patients deemed by the medical community as “challenging” or even “hopeless”. How is that possible? It’s the approach: a time honored method of doing the “detective” work in addition to using diet and nutrition to replace dysfunction and illness with normal body function and health.

The DABCI approach is generally less about giving something to control symptoms or to give synthetic hormones, and more about finding and correcting the source of the disease. The DABCI examination and diagnostic testing is to answer not only what is going on, but also to answer the question “Why is this happening?”