Indiana Chiropractic Statutes and Administrative Rules Governing Licensure and Practice
Two-layer framework
Indiana chiropractic regulation sits in two layers. IC 25-10 is the statute: it creates the Board of Chiropractic Examiners, defines the chiropractic physician, and fixes the outer boundary of practice. 864 IAC is the Board's administrative rule: it supplies the details on applications, examinations, fees, continuing education, and hearing procedure. The Indiana Professional Licensing Agency (IPLA) provides staff and the licensing portal; the Board supplies professional judgment. Exam items often test which layer or body controls.
Licensure pathway
An applicant must graduate from a chiropractic college accredited by the Council on Chiropractic Education, pass the NBCE examination sequence accepted by the Board, file the application and fee, and satisfy the Board's background and application requirements. The Indiana credential is "chiropractic physician"; "chiropractor" alone is incomplete in professional and advertising contexts.
Statutory limits
The statute authorizes diagnosis and treatment of human ailments by chiropractic adjustment and adjunctive procedures. It does not authorize surgery or the prescribing or administering of prescription drugs. Diagnostic x-ray and other diagnostic procedures are part of the permitted diagnostic arm, not a separate license.
Worked example
A licensee advertises "physical therapy" as a stand-alone service. Reasoning: adjunctive physiotherapy may be within chiropractic care, but the ad cannot imply the licensee holds a physical therapist license. The service must be described as part of chiropractic treatment and delivered within chiropractic scope.
Traps
Confusing Board and IPLA roles; treating the rule and statute as interchangeable; calling a chiropractic physician an MD; assuming a national certification expands Indiana's statutory scope.