If you want to help a lot of people and change the lives in your community with chiropractic, start with your patients' families. High volume practices are family practices plain and simple. But the secret behind establishing this kind of practice is in the type of chiropractor you are.

You have to be a traditional wellness chiropractor to have a wellness practice. This requires a firm belief in the principle and philosophy of chiropractic, and the ability to convey it simply so it is understandable and believable.

People need to see you as part of their health care team, like their dentist. A musculoskeletal symptom "condition" practice will never create a family practice because it doesn't fit the model. I define wellness as the maintenance of certain actions to prevent illness and injury. Traditional wellness chiropractic fits within this model, but people have to be reeducated to it because they believe it as a therapy for back pain.

The first step to starting a high retention family practice is educating people about the principles and philosophy of chiropractic. Repetition is the mother of learning, so this should begin with the first visit and continue every visit thereafter -- forever!

People need to understand that spinal misalignment or subluxation causes interference to normal nerve flow, resulting in damage and dysfunction. How this state of dis-ease goes on silently until enough damage and dysfunction occurs to create a symptom. That the key is, one can have a subluxation for a long time before getting the symptom, since doesn't the subluxation doesn't cause a symptom directly.

The second step is to use analogies to explain this concept. Cavities, cancer or heart disease do not cause symptoms right away either. Dentistry is the best example to use to parallel the chiropractic education to a patient.

Dentists have taught people to have their children checked for cavities and people never question it. Yet, if you ask people whether cavities cause pain they will say "yes." If cavities caused pain, why do we bring our kids to the dentist to see if they have them? We would know when the got the pain. By paralleling this example with subluxation, people will catch on to the concept of bringing kids to get checked to see if they are subluxated.

Once patients understand the core priniciple and philosophy of chiropractic, the third step is to show them medical research to back it up. Share medical research that the area of their spinal subluxations can cause more than just back pain. Tachycardia, asthma, vision, digestive, kidney and many more problems can be associated. All chiropractors should have medical research posters and pamphlets in their office to give credibility to their explanations. This solidifies concepts to patients and decreases preconceived beliefs established by false rumors. The result is more certainty.

Next, share testimonials of other patients who have had success. Show pre- and post-x-rays with their testimonials and pictures to make them more real. If you're just starting practice, use stories you've heard. Testimonials are the best marketing tool in existence. They provide third party endorsement that is believable and people can relate to. Collect them from the day you start your practice.

If something requires maintenance and you neglect it, a problem (subluxation) will develop silently. The problem will get worse over time and eventually hit a point of crisis. This is when the symptom occurs. The fifth and most powerful step to a high retention family practice is the maintenance-problem-crisis (MPC) concept.

I've trained thousands of D.C.s on this and it's the sole concept responsible for some of the biggest practices in the world! This is THE concept for a wellness family practice. Use a number of analogies so patients can see how they are maintaining their car, lawn, teeth, and relationships, and they'll come to the realization that they need to maintain their spines throughout their lifetime, with adjustments, too.

Most D.C.s have been taught the phase I, II, III model which leads with pain and ends with maintenance. The MPC model leads with maintenance and establishes that the lack of maintenance creates the problem which leads to the crisis (symptom). Patients understand that the reason they're in crisis is that they didn't maintain their spines (with adjustments)! If they don't maintain them (for life), the problem will come back and end up in crisis again.

How you position your communication makes all the difference. At this point, people are thinking of their family because they haven't been maintaining their children's spines. This leads you into the last step.

Ask "what if" questions to force them to focus on the past, present and future benefits and consequences of maintaining their whole family's spine.

"What if you had found out about this earlier and gotten regular adjustments to maintain your spine? What if your kids are subluxated, developing the same problems you are coming in to fix? How will you be in the next 10 years if you don't maintain your spine?"

You'll be amazed at how communicating these simple yet powerful strategies to every patient will absolutely guarantee a high retention family practice forever -- because you will be added to your patients' health care team!