Is It Time We Return to Function?

Chiropractic at its root is a wellness-based philosophy. It is about freeing the nervous system to optimize function, not just treat pain. Unfortunately, many of our patients, our staff, and even Chiropractors themselves have forgotten this, focusing instead on pain relief. Now, I think that it is about time we remember where we came from and the true power of Chiropractic and return to function.

The healthcare system today is broken. It is based on treating disease or the symptoms of disease rather than on prevention.

The healthcare system today is broken. It is based on treating disease or the symptoms of disease rather than on prevention. The problem with that is when a patient presents with migraines, it is not because they don’t have enough migraine medication in their system. The migraine is instead, only a symptom of the root problem.

When our patient comes in to be treated for migraines, or back pain, neck tension, and a host of other problems, it is easy to fall into the trap of offering adjustments to relieve their pain. Even more, when a patient does experience relief but is not educated about how Chiropractic works to optimize the function of their body, it is likely that they will assume adjustments are nothing more than a treatment for pain.

There is no doubt that the benefit of pain relief derived from an adjustment can be enormous. However, when we neglect to educate our patients and our staff and to demonstrate that the adjustment is eliminating nerve interference that is decreasing body functioning and causing pain, we set our patients and ourselves up for failure.

An uneducated patient is one who will only come into our office when they are in pain. They don’t understand the power of regular adjustments to keep their body functioning at optimum levels. They completely miss the true benefit of Chiropractic.

Educated patients, on the other hand, are the life-blood of a practice. Patients who understand that disease is not a natural state and that the body has the power to heal itself when nerve interference has been eliminated become patients for life. They are also the patients who refer their friends, family, and someone they just met in line at the grocery store because they want everyone to achieve lasting wellness as they have.

In order achieve this level of educated patients in our practice, there are 3 steps we have to take:

1. Remember why we became Chiropractors and immerse ourselves in a chiropractic philosophy
2. Educate our staff on the origin and power of Chiropractic
3. Create a Chiropractic education system in our practice

This is an on going process that you should monitor daily to ensure the best results. Add the tasks of patient and staff education to a proactive practice management system, like Genesis Chiropractic Software, to make sure that you never let this all important part of your practice fall to the wayside. Every interaction that you or your staff have with patients that educates them and focuses on returning to wellness instead of treating pain or disease will return huge dividends in the future with loyal patients and many more referrals.