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Illinois

Chiropractic physicians in Illinois are licensed by the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation under the Medical Practice Act of 1987.

What the board and the law publish

Each field carries its own source and the date it was checked. A field marked not published means the board's own pages were read and do not address it. Absence in what we checked is not absence at the board. A field marked unverified says what was attempted.

State
published Illinois, a state.Source: https://idfpr.illinois.gov/profs/chiropractor.html · checked 2026-10-04
Licensing body
published The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) issues the license; you apply with the Division of Professional Regulation. IDFPR’s profession page is titled Chiropractic Physician. The Illinois State Medical Board, created by the Medical Practice Act, advises the Department; IDFPR’s board page describes its purpose as advising the Department on the qualifications of applicants for medical licensure in Illinois. Its members include chiropractic physicians.Source: https://idfpr.illinois.gov/profs/chiropractor.html · https://idfpr.illinois.gov/profs/boards/statemedboard.html · https://idfpr.illinois.gov/content/dam/soi/en/web/idfpr/core/dpr/038-qualifications-for-licensure.pdf · https://www.ilga.gov/commission/jcar/admincode/068/068012850A00300R.html · https://www.ilga.gov/Legislation/ILCS/Articles?ActID=1309&ChapterID=24&Chapter=PROFESSIONS,%20OCCUPATIONS,%20AND%20BUSINESS%20OPERATIONS&MajorTopic=REGULATION · checked 2026-10-04
Statutory authority
published The act is the Medical Practice Act of 1987, 225 ILCS 60, published by the Illinois General Assembly. The rules are 68 Ill. Adm. Code Part 1285, published by the Illinois General Assembly. IDFPR’s qualifications document names Sections 1285.70 and 1285.80 as the source of the license qualifications.Source: https://www.ilga.gov/Legislation/ILCS/Articles?ActID=1309&ChapterID=24&Chapter=PROFESSIONS,%20OCCUPATIONS,%20AND%20BUSINESS%20OPERATIONS&MajorTopic=REGULATION · https://www.ilga.gov/agencies/JCAR/Sections?PartID=06801285&TitleDescription=TITLE%2068:%20%20PROFESSIONS%20AND%20OCCUPATIONS · https://idfpr.illinois.gov/content/dam/soi/en/web/idfpr/core/dpr/038-qualifications-for-licensure.pdf · checked 2026-10-04
Degree requirement
published IDFPR requires graduation from a program accredited by the Council on Chiropractic Education, its successor, or its equivalent. Under the act, if you graduated from a U.S. chiropractic college after August 19, 1981, the college must have been fully accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of the Council on Chiropractic Education or its successor at the time of your graduation. If you matriculated after September 1, 1969, the act requires a 2-year course of instruction in a liberal arts college or its equivalent, plus a chiropractic course of not less than 132 weeks completed within not less than 35 months. If you graduated from a chiropractic college in another country, the act requires that the college be equivalent to the standards of education set for chiropractic colleges in the United States (Section 11(B)(4)).IDFPR’s qualifications document writes Council of Chiropractic Education; the act writes Council on Chiropractic Education.Source: https://idfpr.illinois.gov/content/dam/soi/en/web/idfpr/core/dpr/038-qualifications-for-licensure.pdf · https://www.ilga.gov/commission/jcar/admincode/068/068012850A00300R.html · https://www.ilga.gov/Legislation/ILCS/Articles?ActID=1309&ChapterID=24&Chapter=PROFESSIONS,%20OCCUPATIONS,%20AND%20BUSINESS%20OPERATIONS&MajorTopic=REGULATION · checked 2026-10-04
Student practice before licensure
published Under Section 14 of the act, Candidates for the degree of doctor of chiropractic enrolled in a chiropractic college, accredited by the Council on Chiropractic Education, may practice under the direct, on-premises supervision of a chiropractic physician who is a member of the faculty of an accredited chiropractic college. Under Section 17 of the act, persons holding the degree of Doctor of Chiropractic or persons who have satisfied the requirements therefor and are eligible to receive such degree from a medical, osteopathic, or chiropractic school, who wish to pursue programs of graduate or specialty training in this State, may receive without examination, in the discretion of the Department, a 3-year temporary license. Under Section 17(A) through (D), the applicant shall submit evidence satisfactory to the Department of several matters, including that the applicant Has been accepted or appointed for specialty or residency training by a hospital situated in this State or a training program in hospitals or facilities maintained by the State of Illinois or affiliated training facilities which is approved by the Department for the purpose of such training under this Act. The holder of a valid 3-year temporary license shall be entitled thereby to perform only such acts as may be prescribed by and incidental to the holder's program of residency training; the holder shall not be entitled to otherwise engage in the practice of medicine in this State unless fully licensed in this State. The act marks Sections 14 and 17 (Section scheduled to be repealed on January 1, 2032). Rule 1285.105 is titled Chiropractic Physician Preceptorship (Repealed) and reads Repealed at 24 Ill. Reg. 3620, effective February 15, 2000.Source: https://www.ilga.gov/Legislation/ILCS/Articles?ActID=1309&ChapterID=24&Chapter=PROFESSIONS,%20OCCUPATIONS,%20AND%20BUSINESS%20OPERATIONS&MajorTopic=REGULATION · https://www.ilga.gov/commission/jcar/admincode/068/068012850A01050R.html · checked 2026-10-04
NBCE parts required
published You need NBCE Parts I, II, III and IV, with a passing score on all four as determined by NBCE. Rule 1285.60 and IDFPR’s qualifications document name no physiotherapy exam. Under rule 1285.60(b)(2), no applicant may have exceeded the NBCE’s maximum number of attempts for any part, so long as that maximum attempt is 5 or less.Rule 1285.70(c)(3), for applicants by examination, cites Section 1285.60(n); rule 1285.60, as published on 2026-10-04, has no subsection (n). The parallel endorsement clause, rule 1285.80(c)(4), cites Section 1285.60(b).Source: https://www.ilga.gov/commission/jcar/admincode/068/068012850A00600R.html · https://idfpr.illinois.gov/content/dam/soi/en/web/idfpr/core/dpr/038-qualifications-for-licensure.pdf · https://www.ilga.gov/commission/jcar/admincode/068/068012850A00700R.html · https://www.ilga.gov/commission/jcar/admincode/068/068012850A00800R.html · checked 2026-10-04
State-specific exam
not published None published. Rule 1285.60(b), which defines the examinations for licensure to practice chiropractic, names the four NBCE parts and no Illinois-administered exam. IDFPR’s qualifications document lists no state exam.Read on 2026-10-04: IDFPR’s chiropractic physician page; IDFPR’s qualifications document (038); rules 1285.60, 1285.70 and 1285.80; the full text of 225 ILCS 60.Source: https://www.ilga.gov/commission/jcar/admincode/068/068012850A00600R.html · https://idfpr.illinois.gov/content/dam/soi/en/web/idfpr/core/dpr/038-qualifications-for-licensure.pdf · https://idfpr.illinois.gov/profs/chiropractor.html · https://www.ilga.gov/commission/jcar/admincode/068/068012850A00700R.html · https://www.ilga.gov/commission/jcar/admincode/068/068012850A00800R.html · https://www.ilga.gov/Legislation/ILCS/Articles?ActID=1309&ChapterID=24&Chapter=PROFESSIONS,%20OCCUPATIONS,%20AND%20BUSINESS%20OPERATIONS&MajorTopic=REGULATION · checked 2026-10-04
Jurisprudence requirement
not published None published. No law, rules or jurisprudence exam appears in the act, in rules 1285.60, 1285.70 or 1285.80, or in IDFPR’s qualifications document. The act does not use the word jurisprudence.Read on 2026-10-04: IDFPR’s chiropractic physician page; IDFPR’s qualifications document (038); rules 1285.60, 1285.70 and 1285.80; the full text of 225 ILCS 60.Source: https://idfpr.illinois.gov/content/dam/soi/en/web/idfpr/core/dpr/038-qualifications-for-licensure.pdf · https://www.ilga.gov/Legislation/ILCS/Articles?ActID=1309&ChapterID=24&Chapter=PROFESSIONS,%20OCCUPATIONS,%20AND%20BUSINESS%20OPERATIONS&MajorTopic=REGULATION · https://www.ilga.gov/commission/jcar/admincode/068/068012850A00600R.html · https://www.ilga.gov/commission/jcar/admincode/068/068012850A00700R.html · https://www.ilga.gov/commission/jcar/admincode/068/068012850A00800R.html · https://idfpr.illinois.gov/profs/chiropractor.html · checked 2026-10-04
Scope: what is included
published The act defines a chiropractic physician as a person licensed to treat human ailments without drugs and without operative surgery. It states that nothing in it prohibits you from advising on non-prescription products or administering atmospheric oxygen.Source: https://www.ilga.gov/Legislation/ILCS/Articles?ActID=1309&ChapterID=24&Chapter=PROFESSIONS,%20OCCUPATIONS,%20AND%20BUSINESS%20OPERATIONS&MajorTopic=REGULATION · checked 2026-10-04
Scope: what is excluded
published 225 ILCS 60, Section 2, and Section 33(e) of the same act.Section 33(e) reads Nothing in this Section shall be construed to authorize a chiropractic physician to prescribe drugs.Source: https://www.ilga.gov/Legislation/ILCS/Articles?ActID=1309&ChapterID=24&Chapter=PROFESSIONS,%20OCCUPATIONS,%20AND%20BUSINESS%20OPERATIONS&MajorTopic=REGULATION · checked 2026-10-04
Continuing education
published To renew, you need 150 hours of CME per prerenewal period: the 36 months before July 31 of the renewal year. At least 60 hours come from formal programs and at most 90 from informal programs or activities. The requirement does not apply to your first Illinois renewal. The rule applies to both medical and chiropractic physicians. Section 20 of the act directs the Department to promulgate rules of continuing education that require an average of 50 hours of continuing education per license year. Rule 1285.110(c)(1)(B) lists sponsors for chiropractic physicians, and rule 1285.110(c)(1)(C) provides: Physicians licensed to practice medicine in all of its branches or chiropractic physicians may earn CME hours from the sponsors set forth in subsections (c)(1)(A) and (B). Rule 1285.110 and Section 20 of the act name no required subjects.Source: https://www.ilga.gov/commission/jcar/admincode/068/068012850A01100R.html · https://www.ilga.gov/Legislation/ILCS/Articles?ActID=1309&ChapterID=24&Chapter=PROFESSIONS,%20OCCUPATIONS,%20AND%20BUSINESS%20OPERATIONS&MajorTopic=REGULATION · checked 2026-10-04
Endorsement or reciprocity
published The act lets the Department, at its discretion, license by endorsement a chiropractic physician currently licensed in another state, territory, country or province. Its conditions include graduation from a chiropractic college approved by the Department at the time of graduation, and requirements for the applicant’s license that the Department deems substantially equivalent to Illinois’s at the date of that license. IDFPR’s qualifications document requires active licensure in another state or jurisdiction of the United States. Rule 1285.80 also requires proof of the NBCE examinations under rule 1285.60(b) and a fingerprint background check. The act marks Section 19 (Section scheduled to be repealed on January 1, 2027).Source: https://idfpr.illinois.gov/content/dam/soi/en/web/idfpr/core/dpr/038-qualifications-for-licensure.pdf · https://www.ilga.gov/commission/jcar/admincode/068/068012850A00800R.html · https://www.ilga.gov/Legislation/ILCS/Articles?ActID=1309&ChapterID=24&Chapter=PROFESSIONS,%20OCCUPATIONS,%20AND%20BUSINESS%20OPERATIONS&MajorTopic=REGULATION · checked 2026-10-04
Summary
published In Illinois, IDFPR licenses chiropractic physicians under the Medical Practice Act of 1987 (225 ILCS 60) and the rules at 68 Ill. Adm. Code 1285, with the Illinois State Medical Board advising. You need a degree from a program accredited by the Council on Chiropractic Education, its successor, or its equivalent and, under the act, if you matriculated after September 1, 1969, two years of liberal arts college or its equivalent. You must pass NBCE Parts I through IV; no state exam or jurisprudence exam is published. The act defines a chiropractic physician as a person licensed to treat human ailments without drugs and without operative surgery, and states that it does not authorize a chiropractic physician to prescribe drugs. Continuing education is 150 hours per 36-month prerenewal period, at least 60 of them formal, and is not required for your first Illinois renewal. Licensure by endorsement is available at the Department’s discretion.Source: https://www.ilga.gov/Legislation/ILCS/Articles?ActID=1309&ChapterID=24&Chapter=PROFESSIONS,%20OCCUPATIONS,%20AND%20BUSINESS%20OPERATIONS&MajorTopic=REGULATION · https://www.ilga.gov/agencies/JCAR/Sections?PartID=06801285&TitleDescription=TITLE%2068:%20%20PROFESSIONS%20AND%20OCCUPATIONS · https://idfpr.illinois.gov/content/dam/soi/en/web/idfpr/core/dpr/038-qualifications-for-licensure.pdf · https://idfpr.illinois.gov/profs/boards/statemedboard.html · https://www.ilga.gov/commission/jcar/admincode/068/068012850A00600R.html · https://www.ilga.gov/commission/jcar/admincode/068/068012850A00700R.html · https://www.ilga.gov/commission/jcar/admincode/068/068012850A00800R.html · https://idfpr.illinois.gov/profs/chiropractor.html · https://www.ilga.gov/commission/jcar/admincode/068/068012850A01100R.html · checked 2026-10-04

Recorded limit. The Federation of Chiropractic Licensing Boards publishes a record for each board at https://www.fclb.org/. That site returned HTTP 403 to us when checked on 2026-10-04, so its record could not be read.

The board is the authority on everything here. Requirements change. Confirm anything you intend to act on with the board directly.

Cite this entry. Illinois licensure. In The Kaleidoscope. ChiroTrack. Last verified 4 October 2026. https://kaleidoscope.thechirotrack.com/licensure-illinois.html. Accessed ________.

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