Maybe this is stereotyping, but I hate when they go into how we always discredit their training when it really is rigorous(and governed with what standards?), their anatomy educations are far superior, and EBM is really controlled by big pharma, insurance companies, and the AAMC.
Anecdotal, but one of my friend's dad is a neurologist. My friend did horrible in undergrad and on the MCAT and actually applied to and got into chiro schools. His dad told him he would disown his son if he went, haha.
We ha a chiropractor come in and talk to us. although this was actually during a genetics seminar and she was the mother of a patient with a genetic condtion. it was cool until she said something along the lines of "and we actually get quite a bit more neuro than you guys do".
here is the problem with that statement, simply having more classes in something doesnt mean you have more training. Palmer has 3 whole semesters in gross anatomy IIRC. We had 1. Does this mean they are better at it? Id say no... it means they need more time with it and as a result will probably not be as proficient even after their YEAR AND A HALF to learn the structure of the human body. same thing applies to any other course we can find overlap in.
Guess I will chime an alternate opinion in here. I've had a very positive experience with a chiropractor. In college I suffered from lower back pain, it progressively got worse until the point where I couldn't drive in the car for more then one hour without an excruciating pain which started at my lower back and radiated down my left leg.
I didn't believe in chiropractors but my dad offered for me to see one and since it was free I opted to go. Well he manipulated me and adjusted my spine with HVLA and upon his thrust my entire lower spine cracked, about 6-8 cracks. I felt an electric pulse run down my leg and the pain was gone. I walked out of there pain free.
Now that I am in medical school I can adequately dx myself and I am confident that I had a hypertonic left sided psoas muscle pulling my lumbar vertebrae out of alignment causing secondary left sided sciatic pain. The HVLA maneuver realigned my vertebrae and released the compression on sciatic nerve.
The caveat to this story and concerns I have with chiropractors is this. First off, the chiropractor didn't dx me, he just heard left sided lower back pain and went into the technique. Additionally, he didn't treat the underlying pathology which was a hypertonic and shortened psoas muscle (and bilateral hypertonic and shortened hamstrings). Since he didn't address this issue sure enough after one year the back pain returned, less though.
My issue could have been addressed by a few week of soft tissue tech by a PT given an accurate dx, but I gotta say it was pretty awesome to walk in the office in pain and leave without pain.
I would challenge you about your vertebra being pulled "out of alignment". ur a medical student so I assume you have played with a vertebral column. you just try to pull one of those suckers out of alignment... it really isnt happening, especially to the degree chiropractors would have you believe (at least not without SERIOUS neurological deficit).
in my mind, chiropractics is a musculoskeletal treatment where the practitioners are still stuck thinking they are a skeletal-nervous treatment. If you have issues with your psoas I would be surprised if you DIDNT have back pain... but the claim that this is due to subluxation is a fallacy. muscle strain is the primary cause of back pain. if you have neurological defects due to spinal alignment you will have more than pain... (im not trying to pick on u or call u out here, just make a point) mean, are we assuming your mis alignment was confined specifically to an area affecting the only dorsal root components which feed dorsal rami fibers? THAT would be impressive. if the spine was affecting dorsal root the pain would not be so local, and there would be motor weakness if we hit rami. the explanation of illness doesnt fit, and even if the treatment brings relief i think we are obligated to understand cause
Just a couple facts.
MCAT is not required for most chiro schools.
Avg GPA is very close to 3.0 with science GPA below 3.0
Only 3 years of school but some claim abilities to diagnose complex diseases (NOT ALL DCs)
Some claim subluxations are the cause of all illnesses
Suspicious that most treatment plans require 2x a week visits, DCs subscribe their patients to ensure flow of cash?
Why not go to a DO who is trained in OMM
What self-respecting DC would allow themself/charge a patient to treat a broken hand?
Rampant cheating and very little institutional control over students at DC schools
No hospital allows DCs anywhere near them
Most health insurance plans don't cover DCs
DCs work very closely with lawyers and auto insurance companies.
this is a great post IMO. and this is the part of what i say that may really ruffle some feathers.
grades, standardized tests, and... well thats it... these things have a purpose. for the vast majority of us they are directly indicative of academic and intellectual ability. a school which averages lower grades and lower MCAT's will have an average student who is less able to compete with the average student who is at a school with higher numbers. This is true of allopathic schools. I go to an average state school with an avg mcat of 31 and avg GPA of ~3.7 (nearly every state school in the country lol). I dont expect to have the credentials that most of the people at mayo, JH, or even some place like northwestern (avg 35 which is a substantial difference) have.
this same principle applies between MD and DO, which IMO accounts largely for the ~2/3 pass rate of USMLE1 for DO students vs ~90% for MD. now, for those DO students who passed step 1 or even did well, congrats, you defy the statistic and this is why a doctor should be evaluated on a personal basis and not just as a string of numbers. there are those who may have screwed around too much in undergrad or whatnot and didnt have the scores, or truly ascribe to the DO methodology and philosophy. and I am only bringing them up because I dont know of a valid testing comparison between MD and CD.
but my main point is this: outliers dont define a trend. we cannot assume that for each person who came up with a 21 on the mcat that they simple dont test well but are still just as academically capable as someone with a 38. the assumption has to be that this individual achieved a score which is indicative of his or her ability with some small % chance that he or she could be better (which is offset by the same % chance that he or she lucked out).
so no, chiropractics cannot be more rigorous in any fashion than medical school. for that to be true you are telling me that the kids who struggled to pass undergrad or skirted by with a 3.0 and got high teens on the MCAT are somehow and suddenly able to dance circles around me in a curriculum that I am currently busting my balls over
The American healthcare system is screwed up but nobody will admit it. Honestly, if ODs only RX'ed glasses and contacts I would have def gone the MD route. You can't blame people for choosing what is the best option for their circumstances. 
