What is a Board Certified Chiropractic Internist?
The initials "DABCI" stand for "Diplomate of the American Board of Chiropractic Internists". It is also referred to as "Chiropractic Diagnosis and Management of Internal Disorders". Chiropractic Internists are physicians who are uniquely trained and qualified to holistically assess and treat a wide spectrum of ailments that occur within the human body. Chiropractic Internists must complete over three hundred hours of post-doctoral education in addition to passing an extensive written and hands-on testing procedure by the American Board of Chiropractic Internists, which is overseen by the Council of Internal Diagnosis and Disorders (CDID). Chiropractic Internists are trained to understand and diagnose conditions and diseases as a general practitioner or internist in the medical field would. However, the difference is that Chiropractic Internists are not trained to do surgery or treat with prescription medications, but to use history, physical examination, lab testing, as well as a wide variety of clinical diagnostic instrumentation to assess patients.
The holistic paradigm believes that finding the root cause of an issue is the most important step. A typical physician might be content to give an anti-inflammatory drug, provide pain killers, or give a drug to stop the body from secreting stomach acid. A Chiropractic Internist, however, is interested in using dietary changes as well as vitamins, minerals, amino acids, fatty acids, glandulars, homeopathics, and herbs to correct the dysfunction, heal the chronic infection, or improve how a system in the body is working. Often this is called alternative health care, but it is actually REAL health care offering REAL solutions, and gives individuals a chance at REAL health and REAL wellness. It is designed to take what is dysfunctional and make it functional.
I've never heard of a Chiropractic Internist.
There are less than 300 Board Certified Chiropractic Internists throughout the World. The American Chiropractic Association (ACA), which is the primary chiropractic association in the USA, has 8 accredited diplomate ("specialist") programs: Radiology, Neurology, Orthopedics, Acupuncture, Rehabilitation, Sports, Nutrition, and Chiropractic Internist. All require a significant amount of additional training and require some type of evaluation process to receive the certification.
I thought Chiropractors only took care of things like low back and neck pain. When I read the testimonials and hear about him being a book author for hypothyroidism, I am surprised that he is a chiropractor.
Dr. Berglund went into the chiropractic field because he loved the concept of treating people holistically and naturally. He looked at all the physician programs available throughout the US and decided that getting a Doctor of Chiropractic degree would offer him the greatest chance to practice in the most states, and give him the freedom to use his skills to help more people. It never entered Dr. Berglund's mind to become a medical doctor. He had no desire to dispense drugs or perform surgery because he felt there were already enough physicians doing that.