The evolution of chiropractic orthopedists: a bootstrapping of clinical skills

Spanning half of the chiropractic century, the development of the American Board of Chiropractic Orthopedists (ABCO) is a story of an educational bootstrapping that originated from the concerns of practicing field chirporactors. In the post World War II era, a need was determined to develop various principles and procedures of orthopedics in relation to chiropractic practice. Innovative chiropractors sought to promote greater levels of diagnostic precision within the profession by creating a post graduate program to teach advanced methods of physical and neuromusculoskeletal examination and treatment. Various specialty societies emerging after the 1947 creation of the professionally owned, non-profit Los Angeles College of Chiropractic provided a humble beginning for the task. Eventually, with its roots in the National Chiropractic Association, the ABCO and its predecessors were successful in enhancing the education of practicing doctors, instituting similar programs in chiropractic college curricula, contributing papers to chiropractic literature and providing groundwork for early chiropractic research pertaining to musculoskeletal disorders.