Life Chiropractic College West

These folks came to the Pleasanton Double Road race and set up a therapy station to attend the runners during half times and did a very good job, were friendly, informed and available when you needed some attendance. I talked to Carie and the guy who oversees the business and were quiet impressed. They worked on my son’s leg muscles and off we went to another stage of the race! Thanks much guys!

This place is awesome, very detailed. My past two visit’s currently i have seen an intern he is very professional and patient. I cannot say enough good things about this place. My little boy even loves coming here because there is an area for kids where there is a bunch of toys.

This school has been going through some growing pains lately, with an increase in student body by more than 50% in the last few years. The new president of the school has successfully steered this institution out of the red and onto a path to thriving. The buzz around campus is palpable and infectious, it’s not school pride, but its more of a solidarity that «we’re in this together, and we’re ALL going to be successful»
If you’re considering a career in Chiropractic (wise choice!), this school is very much worthy of a visit.

I spent the first quarter at LCCW feeling like I was on a honeymoon. Then reality hit! Of course having a degree in biology gave me a clue as to how to begin studying. It’s a good thing that I had taken Anatomy, Cell Structure & Function, Genetics, Histology, Physiology, Organic I&II, Calculus I, II, III, Physics for bio majors, and a few other courses. It really doesn’t make sense to simply do prerequisites just to get into any professional health care school. I found myself wondering though if I would make it through, I mean studying neuropathophysiology, renal pathophysiology, GI pathophysiology, and a slew of other courses was enough to boggle my mind. Then, having to study the nervous system in great detail gave me a big picture understanding of how I could fit into the patient care arena. I mean, It was rigorous and I was privileged to be in class with some Stanford grads as well as other students from major universities. I simply do not understand how someone could believe that taking a review course could adequately prepare them for board examinations and enough of a clinical understanding of the human body to be a good doctor. I also read posts where people talk about things such as accreditation. What does that have to do with anything? If the school is fully accredited, it means that the credentialing body for the specific profession of chiropractic (e.g. CCE) has given the school the authorization to award the degree doctor of chiropractic, not a bachelors or other degree. Read and understand. Also, I cannot read anywhere or have I ever been promised any specific salary. That is baloney. A person can have a thousand degrees but not have the sense to use their brain to earn the kind of income that they desire. It makes no sense to have an expectation without a plan. As far as recognition of the degree by other institutions, try to get a teaching job at any medical school with simply an MD degree and see how far that gets you. You have a medical degree, not a teaching degree and you will not be able to teach unless you complete a residency, which is at minimum, another three years. Then you must have teaching experience. Do not let the rhetoric get you twisted. Sure, the colleges have transfer requirements, but use common sense. An undergraduate degree is your proof that you have met the minimum standards. Most, if not all colleges will accept most of your undergraduate credits if your college or university is credentialed as an undergraduate degree granting institution. Which begs the question: Why simply apply to chiropractic or any other professional school with pre-​reqs only? Fast track gets you last track. That starts off the great disadvantage, unless of course you want to devote your entire life to chiropractic practice from initial licensure to retirement. If you want flexibility, equip yourself academically. Understand that a DC degree, like other specialty degrees does not automatically qualify you to command any job, advanced academic placement or otherwise. It is specific for chiropractic alone. After I left the Navy, the only way I was allowed to work in a hospital research inpatient unit was because the charge nurse understood the training US Navy corpsmen received. It was not because the university accepted any transfer credits from Navy Hospital Corps School. Do not breath the sands of discontent from disgruntled naysayers. If you are interested enough, check out some of the major universities and the federal government for chiropractors who are serious about health care and research. They have their DC degrees along with bachelors, masters (MBA, MPH, MS, etc.), PhD, MD, etc. Perhaps you will gain a better understanding as to how it is done. Forget about the naysayers. If you are studying for a chiropractic degree, congratulations, if you are contemplating a degree, congratulations. If you are here to bash the degree, get in line. I am proud of myself for getting the DC degree, in addition to my bachelors, masters and PhD.

Great school, had a friend that graduated from there, and I received care there.

A friend of mine was an intern here, now graduated. But I still continue to come here.
It’s been almost a year since I’ve been coming here.
I wanted to help my friend with his requirements to graduate from here. I’ve had back problems in the past, but my intern JR explained to me the importance of chiropractic care. During my care under JR with the supervision of his teachers, I had my complete confidence in him. It felt like I was at a chiropractor’s office, but here the patients are taken care of at a fraction of the cost of a traditional chiropractic office. JR wasn’t just a friend, but my chiropractic adviser.
Since coming here, I’ve noticed improvements in my posture and everyday living. Now, with my new intern, John, he has been equally as great.
I recommend coming here if you’d like to learn more about chiropractic care. You may learn some things that may be beneficial for you.

Great services if you need to get adjusted. Yes its a college but no worries, the professionals are there to spot check their students. Prices are great!

Overall great experience! I’ve been receiving treatment here for almost 4 months and I’ve noticed great progress! My intern, Jared is awesome! He is super knowledgable about everything, always explaining what hes doing and why. His mentor, Dr. Deschamps is also extremely friendly and attentive when he comes in to supervise the adjustments, although my intern is extremely talented! I never have any issues with him being too rough or forceful, he is always very cautious when adjusting. Plus, he’s super accommodating to my crazy schedule. I try to make it in once a week, because my adjustments make all the difference throughout my busy work week. Love this place, I highly recommend it for affordable and effective chiropractics!

I love this place, you have chiropractic work done at a fraction of the price, and yes it is students working on you but the teachers that are qualified chiropractors are standing right there to watch and make sure they do the right things by you. And sometimes if they cant the lic. Chiropractor will step in and complete the procedure.

I hurt my back about a year ago and i could not get out of bed without pain. To go to the bathroom I had to crawl on the floor. I went to my regular doctor and he gave me pain pills and relaxers. I lost about two weeks of work before it was alright to go back. Even then it was still pain full and I knew if I missed a step I would hurt it again.
I was thinking about going to a chiropractor but was given a price of $ 300.00 for the first visit. Could not afford this then one day a friend ask me why I was walking so bad and he suggested this school. I have been going here for almost a year now and feel great better than I did before I hurt my back. I was a little afraid at first that these are students. I realized this is also what they do at Hospitals as a teaching aid for Doctors
The only bad part is I am seeing less of my intern now because she did such a great
job.

I started treatment here last year. I train Jiu-​Jitsu and I get some major aches and pains as a result of it. I’ve had neck, back, and shoulder problems for years now. I met Ernesto Medina at the gym where I train, he’s an intern there, and suggested that I go see him.
Ernesto is a cool dude. He really knows his stuff and he works not just to ease the pain but to find the source and eliminate it. One perfect example: I occasionally feel pain between my shoulder blades after hard training sessions at the gym, and it usually lasts for days… they feel like muscle aches but massaging didn’t do much to ease the pain. Ernesto somehow figured out that my ribs were just a little misaligned. A few adjustments, a pop or two, and WOW… no more pain. He also taught me some exercises I could do to warm up and strengthen the muscles that support my back to lessen the chance of injury.
He’s also on my case to change my diet and eat healthier. But so far… not much luck with that. :)
Ernesto really cares about his patients and it shows. I highly recommend him if you are looking for treatment.

I’ve been getting treated here for almost four months and have to say that chiro care does work.
After years of wear and tear, my sports masseur discovered that my left hip was higher than my right hip. As a weight lifter, I couldn’t help but notice that i was working through alot of pain that was unnecessary. At the gym, I also met Ben Glassman, LWCC intern.
He’s fixed my lower back, mid back, knee pain, I no longer get tension head aches, I sleep easy and my work outs are more fluid.
I highly recommend chiro care at LWCC. They are very affordable too!

I am so angry, disappointed, and frustrated, (not to mention in serious pain from a bad low back adjustment) with this place that I cannot compose myself enough to write a coherent review at this moment.
But trust me, a searing negative review in coming your way soon.
You get what you pay for, and half price spinal care is clearly not in my or anyones best interest.

I’d like to take only a moment to address a couple of these incredibly harsh reviews.
First, I would like to apologize to you and your husband Birdy S. I have a need for accommodations from the school and I’ve never had to wait, be told to wait or been ignored. In fact it was very much the opposite. My experience with Lori Pino, Dr. Fergeson and Dr. Clum was I dare say as enjoyable as a conversation about your disability can be. Also, now with a new president, Dr. Brian Kelly, my experience has become even more enjoyable.
Second, to Bill G., I’m sorry that you were ill informed about your choice in chiropractic. I do not understand why a potential chiropractor would not finish prerequisites at a community college or other accredited university previously to entering. I completed my BA degree in 2007 and I had no intention of using it for anything other than a stepping stone. The fact that your only completed your prerequisites and then went back after your DC degree holds no bearing on the school whatsoever. It is the rules and regulations that the state of California and AMA have provided to limit the opportunities of chiropractors. All of these things are changing. I’m also sorry to hear that you cannot make the amount of money you are happy with. Perhaps you should consider being happy with service to your patients and that will fulfill you.
Third, to Elizabeth N., and others who have been unhappy with their care, understand you decided to go to a teaching school. You signed forms, agreed to the care and received care. I’m sorry that it didn’t work out well and the doctors were difficult, but as a student intern, I’m certain the student will do their best to care for you.
All I can say is that, every establishment has its faults, but the things that you all are complaining about have nothing to do with this institution and their bylaws. It is a byproduct of the laws and regulations in which they have to participate.

I am an intern here and finishing up with this school and I felt it was time to write a review based on my experience. I think people are more inclined to give a review if it’s bad or if it’s positive while in my case I am trying to remain as neutral but realistic as possible.
If you are a patient in the health center I can see how it can be time consuming. Our initial visit is very heavy with paper work and the physical exam takes a long time. But here is the thing, this is a learning institution. When we go into the public we are working with patients and really looking at them through a microscope. We are attempting to apply what we learned in books to real situations.
I can guarantee that the interns in the health center are going to look at your health more than you’re probably getting from most docs in the field because we have to and everyone is still trying to figure out what is most effective for patient care. Many of us are discovering what we love to do as we work with the patients for the first time, while others are refining our skills. The care that patients receive here is discounted more than pretty much anything you’ll find anywhere and if you think you may be unable to afford care but you are really interested in receiving chiropractic care, there is pro bono care available.
I have seen other reviews about the school from ex-​students that had problems with administration, transferring credits, one former student even mentioned board scores being better at Palmer.
All I have to say is:
The administration problem with the injured student… that seems like a bad problem and it probably was handled wrong by the administration, however telling a potential student they shouldn’t attend because if they get seriously injured while in school is in my opinion a little misguided. Throw in the fact that the head honcho at the school has retired and it’s even more misguided because the administration will likely be turning over.
The credits don’t transfer to another school: who cares? People who decided to get into chiropractic school did so to become chiropractors. If a student had a bad experience and they never completed their associates or bachelors degree before they decided to apply for chiropractic school then why is that the fault of the chiropractic school? You probably came to the chiropractic school because it didn’t require that you had those prerequisites fulfilled and you were lured to school via dollar signs not for a love of chiropractic.
This is a chiropractic graduate school not a bachelors program even the way we’re taught anatomy and microbiology is intertwined from a chiropractic perspective. If you had taken enough courses in anatomy in undergrad you’d know that, so why should the credits transfer? If it’s a chiropractic education you received you can’t apply much of what we learn here to an allopathic model like PT.
And about boards scores, all I can do is laugh because the national boards scores are a joke. You have a perfect score as an 800 and you need a 375 to pass, ie you have to get less than 50% to pass and the test is curved except for part III which is made obviously easier. Really if you can’t pass a standardized test like that then you’ve got some work to do before you get into society as a doctor.
Passing boards should NEVER be a reason to pick a chiropractic school because you can take board reviews without stepping foot in a chiropractic school and pass boards. The real question to ask when deciding to attend a chiropractic school is do you learn how to take care of people and are you inspired to love the work you’ve decided to do as a career. Life West is strong in this department and that is the main determining factor.
There are administrative aspects in the health center which can be improved for both the patient and intern experience and it’s my understanding that is the case in all chiropractic schools.
If you want to learn how to adjust people, why chiropractic adjustments work (the science behind an adjustment) and you want to learn a ton of different chiropractic systems this probably the best school in the world with Life East giving it run for the money.
Life west offers exposure to upper cervical care of all types (Knee Chest Upper Cervical Specific, NUCCA, Blair, AO), gonstead, diversified, extremity adjusting, if you decide you’re into lower force techniques there are activator, SOT, and there is guidance for people who are into AK and Network. There is a strong pediatric care presence on campus and there is also a very strong Chiropractic Neurology presence on campus for the Carrick institute. Throw in CBP, BGI, Drop table, Toggle recoil, and you can really start to appreciate how much information is really available at this school.
Also Hayward does not compare to San Jose but seriously did you come to school to live in a cool city or learn how to be a chiropractor?

I’m a student here at Life West and I love it! If there is any judge of how much people like going to a school it would be how much their alumni appreciate their experience there, and from 2006 — 2010 Life West has been the #1 Chiropractic college in alumni satisfaction. On the website it only goes through 2009 because other Chiropractic colleges got upset and mandated that no college can post the results to that survey from 2010 and on… but I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised to see us get if for 2011 also. Point being, students really really love this school. Just walk around campus and see — it’s an amazing world.
This campus is electric right now with all the big and amazing changes taking place, from the inside out and the ground up — changes that are going to take and already great school and make it even greater. The name «Life» fits perfectly because going here really is a rich experience of life.

For the record, I’m writing this solely for the facilities that I get to use as a UCB Extension student.
I really like this place. The fact that I’m truly interested in the course I’m taking and the fact that we have an awesome professor probably have a lot to do with it, but all the people I’ve met here have been really friendly, and this is honestly the one class I truly look forward to going to every week. It’s a lot further than my other classes, but my alternatives were Oakland or Berkeley, so I really can’t complain.
I love that I can walk into the library, hand them my ID, and say, «Hey! Can I borrow that skeleton? And a pelvis? And that leg over there? …And that box of markers? Thanks!» And I get it all! It’s pretty awesome. :D
The student lounge is also really cool. They have a pool table, a ping pong table, a couple refrigerators… but what I love most are the couches. (They’re super-​comfy, which is a slight problem because they tend to have a soporific effect on me. :\) I’m not sure we’re actually allowed to be in there, but we keep it nice, so hopefully it’s alright.
Side story: I know a lot of people have reservations against chiropractic care and/​or find it unnecessary, and although I haven’t ever been here for care yet, I will say that going to a chiropractor was extremely effective for me. I failed at life on a flip off the high bar back in my gymnastics days and landed on my neck. Although on the surface, everything was fine, I started experiencing terrible headaches and there was nothing my doctor could do about it. About a year later, my family got into a car accident and my neck got jostled around some more, and the headaches got even worse. I ended up going to a chiropractor in Davis and I will admit, I was initially pretty terrified of all the neck-​cracking, but all the headaches have been gone ever since, and I can move my head normally again. So don’t knock it unless you’ve tried it.

This place is the only reason I am getting «quality out of life» I suffer with fibromyalgia and have seen MANY doctors of all sorts and have paid thousands of dollars for chiropractic care.
I have now had 2 interns at life chiropractic and both have been very different but very good at what they do. I know I saw a 50% improvement with in a few months as compared to 30% improvement I got in a years time while paying thousands.
This place is hands on and has been a life saver for me.
OH! FYI Alex M., I am not a student nor am I paid to post this.

Alex M. STFU. Seriously, «they sound kinda rehearsed», why because maybe those reviewers had a good experience and wanted to share it with the world? C’mon. Stop talking out of your ass because it «stank».
To the other Elizabeth: Sorry to hear about your experience. I’ve gone to chiropractors sporadically throughout my life and have had only positive outcomes. Best of luck to you.
As for me a former daredevil, the reoccurring pain from my injury finally disabled me. I could barely walk let alone exercise. I was stubborn as fuck because doctors told me in the past that they would have to cut me open to solve the issue and even then I would probably be taking pain killers for the rest of my life. I hate fucking pills, I can hardly stomach vitamins. I went for 3 months walking around like E.T., and it taking at least an hour to get up out of bed each morning. It was time go in for treatment.
I was greeted by Cassie their front desk clerk who was very nice and joked around with me and made me smile. I felt I was in good hands. Everyone there was just smiling and happy go lucky. I was then greeted by a second clerk who helped me fill out all the necessary paperwork. I asked for a female intern since the only man who should be feeling on me should be my mate. Love you honey!
Ms. Kolia walked in greeted me then started the initial examination. It was a process that took about 2 days (for me since I had a long history of injuries stemming from a horrible gymnastics session, bad breakdancing, aggressive rollerblading, and fighting). I also arrived before the end of their business day. Typically, your initial visit should not take more than 2 hours. I filled out more paperwork and went through the range of motion motions throughout my body. X-​rays were necessary to see what was causing all the commotion in my leg and lower back. I was not adjusted that day and left livid, but after coming to my senses I realized that I had to be patient as the intern had to look over my x-​rays to assess the situation better.
Basically, I had so much going on my intern and her supervisor were surprised I could even somewhat function. Per the supervisor’s suggestion, the intern needed to adjust to start getting some movement going in my left hip. After the adjustment and emotional release, I cried. Not a «The Notebook» ending type of cry, but perty damn close. It was like a deep tissue massage, it hurt so good! I got up with tears running down the side of my cheek and hugged my intern and her supervisor because I was actually able to stand erect and walk around.
I am now going in for my 45^th visit and the edema on the base of my neck is gone, the pain in my left leg is gone and my spine is slowly recovering from all the mayhem I put it through in my teenage years. I also can wake up and go, not having to stick around for an hour just because of my back. I am not saying that chiropractic «healed» me per se, it just facilitated my healing process because I was able to go back to my exercise routine. Perhaps it also helped that I did what I was asked to do such as putting cold packs on my back after adjustments or the rolled up towel 15 minutes a day at the the base of my neck. As a patient, YOU need to be an active participant in your healing process.

A family member of mine was a student here and had asked that I come in for regular visits to help for graduation. It was a long drive for me after work in traffic but did it anyways to help.
I have bursitis in my left hip (very painful) and it flares up if I over use the joint too much. Weekly visits here helped tremendously! One night I woke up to a pop in my neck and could not turn to the left (PAIN) I called a doctor at Kaiser who said it was a muscle spasm and put heat on it! Heat??? really? Heat would have made it much worse and I knew that — its ICE buddy! So I go to Lifewest immediately and one of the teachers took care of me… within minutes I was feeling better and I iced it of course.
Believe what you want about what you think is best for your body however unless you can back up your facts that it is either best for you or not, do your research… I did and there is a ton out there about how chiropractic can help your health.