Physiotherapy or Chiropractor?

Physiotherapy is largely based on evidence based medicine. Chiropractic is alternative medicine. While evidence suggests that chiropractic care can be helpful for low back pain, that's about it - and there is a large degree of 'quackery' in chiropractic, such as 'diagnosing' nutritional imbalances through muscle testing (applied kinesiology, which has nothing to do with kinesiology).

If you're interested in helping people, both can be rewarding. Physiotherapists can work in hospitals, clinics, etc. Chiropractors work for themselves or with other alternative medicine practitioners. If you're thinking about med school at all, PT is much closer allied to mainstream medicine than chiropractic.

I was a massage therapist, and was exposed to lots of chiropractic practices. Weird pseudoscience in a lot of alternative med led me to go back to school, and now I'm studying actual science (biology then bioinformatics) - so I'm biased but experienced. I'm in the US, but the above should be true in the UK as well.

If you're looking to work with sports teams that travel internationally, it may help to know that physical therapy is mainstream and recognized internationally, whereas chiropractic isn't always.

The pay for chiropractors would be what you make in your own business, as opposed to a pay band in the NHS or at a private clinic/hospital somewhere.

So, if you want to own your own business and work for yourself, and are a good enough salesperson and marketer to make that happen, then you could do that as a chiropractor or physical therapist. (Not sure if PTs can work independently in UK, they can in most US states w/out referral from GP). But if you don't want to own your own business, then chiropractic would not be the wisest decision.

Hi! I am very interested in the human body and helping others and I guess that's why I have an interest for those fields. However, I never really got a grasp on what the difference is between the two. I am very interested in treating sports injuries in particular and working with sports teams. Which would be a better fit for me? Also, which field has higher salaries and growth rate? I was also thinking of doing med school and specializing in Sports Medicine, but that's too long and risky, and I am already 24 years old.

Thanks.