One of the most difficult and stressful tasks to perform in today's marketplace is the continual replacement of patients who only want relief from their conditions.

What would happen if many of your new patients stayed for wellness and referred in family and friends? Can you imagine the reduction of stress on your staff and yourself? You see, there's no such thing as a single patient. If you have communicated from your heart to his or her heart, the average new patient refers in two others.

That's the power of three.

If you only offer relief care, you can only attract people who have found themselves in crisis. The beauty of wellness is that you are not limited to people in conditions. Nothing could be farther from the truth than to say that acute and wellness patients are in opposition to each other. They are one in the same.

A typical example might be a baby boomer (born 1946-64) who sprains a shoulder and finds your office. If you don't have the mindset, procedures, and communication technologies in place for wellness, this patient will come in for a few weeks and leave, with a PVA of maybe 10-12 – not knowing you offered wellness. He or she can only refer people who have a sprained right shoulder. Nothing could be more limiting to the growth of your office.

Now, let's look at a baby boomer with a sprained shoulder who from the first phone call, through every office procedure, and your new patient orientation is are repositioned from what he or she thought chiropractic was to what chiropractic really is.

"Why didn't you tell me this, doctor? I drink bottled water, exercise, try to eat whole foods, etc. I'm with you for wellness." Once the patient realizes that the vertebral subluxation complex interferes with the expression of life, he or she becomes an excited and enthusiastic referral warrior.

Excited, enthusiastic patients refer, not "miracle" patients. For veteran D.C.s reading this, think of how many "miracle" adjustments you have delivered without resulting referrals. Excited, enthusiastic patients refer in their spouses, children, siblings, parents... the possibilities are endless.

Helping people who find themselves in crisis is certainly admirable and noble. However, there exists in all human beings the urge to improve themselves. At what point are we as chiropractors going to assume the leadership role in educating everyone as to what health really is?

We know that health is optimal physical, social and mental well being, and not merely the absence of disease or symptoms. Most doctors concentrate or specialize in the physical, after symptoms have appeared.

Social well being is made up of more than 20 indices. Included are such things as infant mortality, poverty, teenage suicide, alcoholism, drug addiction, homicide, etc. How do you address or treat these very real issues? Every year since the '70s (when these stats were first kept) there has been a downward spiral or worsening.

Mental well being. Where to begin? There are actually monuments erected (mental hospitals) as testimonials to society's failing at this facet of health.

As everyone reading this knows, there is no "cure" after the fact for this predicament of our species. When will we stand up and be counted as part of the solution? Wellness chiropractic care from birth to death in every person will add healthier people to an otherwise sick society. By only "healing" conditions we will get more of the same.

Think of babies just delivered with the absolute minimum of interference to their inborn intelligence. They are not born with hate, poverty, crime, etc. They are born with the power of perfection. It's our job to remove interference to this "genius within" on a continual basis, not after the fact!

The Japanese have a word, "kaizen," which means constant, continuous improvement for life. All parents want this for themselves and for their children. Imagine children looking forward to their journey through life, instead of fearing it.

Yes, this is a world that everyone agrees they would be proud of. The way has been forged, our compass has been set. Chiropractors must have the courage to stand for what we are, and not what a scientific/allopathically driven society wants us to be!

The power of three is awaiting you, your community, and the world. There is no other health care professional who thinks like this. And, there's never been an opportunity to shape the world like we have available now.