Nutrition: The spearhead into your community

Although chiropractic enjoys a much broader acceptance than ever before, proper nutrition is now universally approved as a key to proper health. With a little knowledge and understanding about nutrition's role in certain health problems, the individual chiropractor can open his or her practice to a major increase in new patients.

For example, although there is ample research to validate chiropractic as a method to help PMS, most women would not think of going to a chiropractor for this problem. Despite the studies and success of chiropractic in treating hyperactive children, most parents wouldn't consider the adjustment as a major treatment choice.

There are 80 million women with hormone problems. One out of every 10 parents has a child who has been labeled hyperactive, or is concerned that they might be. These represent enough new patients to double every chiropractic office in America. How do you market yourself and chiropractic to these potential new patients?

Nutrition is the key answer to the above. If one is familiar with the role of nutrition in addressing these problems, one can do workshops or seminars on non-drug solutions, such as "Drug-Free Approaches to Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorders" or "Balancing Hormones Naturally." These types of presentations are extremely popular subjects and always bring in large crowds. Let's take a look at some simple nutrition as it applies to both of these topics.

Many women who suffer from PMS or menopausal conditions will completely respond to the adjustment alone. However, if you explain the role of nutrition in your talk, you will be received better and gain more new patients. This is simply due to the fact that, as mentioned above, the general public is more educated about nutrition than they are about chiropractic.

Every woman with symptoms of a hormone-related problem should be checked for weak adrenal glands and low blood sugar and whether or not she can benefit from vitamin E, vitamin C and calcium.

Give her a questionnaire or ask her if she craves sweets, uses coffee to sustain energy, gets tired after large meals or is frequently irritable. If her answers are mostly yes, she may have low blood sugar. Suggesting a nutritional regimen and change in dietary habits in conjunction with chiropractic care should bring about positive results rather quickly.

Learning disabilities and hyperactivity are a little more complicated. Although many children will respond to adjustments alone, one needs to also understand the crucial role of nutrition. Many of these children have low blood sugar and most of them have food or chemical allergies. A diet free of sugar, junk food, corn, corn syrup, food colorings, caffeine and chocolate, along with adjustments can often bring a change in 30 days.

I have found that many doctors of chiropractic do not implement or promote nutritional support as a service to their patients. Since nutrition is so widely accepted today as an alternative measure to drugs, and since it works so well hand-in-hand with chiropractic, you could be missing some real practice growth potential by neglecting this area.

By taking the initiative in your community and promoting some workshops on the positive results which can be obtained through nutrition to assist in such problems as PMS, menopause and ADHD, you will be able to help many people who are in need of your services. Nutrition can often be the first step in educating more people about chiropractic and thereby reducing the use of unnecessary and/or potentially harmful drugs.

(Dr. David Singer is the CEO of David Singer Enterprises, a company offering an honest and ethical approach to practice building through one-on-one consulting programs, products and practice expansion seminars. If you'd like to be placed on the list for "The Purpose Fax Newsletter," Dr. Singer's free fax info letter containing practice-building tips and health research, call 800/326-1797, ext. 223. Leave your name, address and fax number to receive a copy approximately every six weeks.)