December 2004

Too much of a good thing

by Dr. Kevin Pallis and Dr. Ed Plentz

Have financial obligations left you devouring your young?

As a practicing DC, you are faced with two options clinically and philosophically: 1) giving people what they want (symptom relief) and 2) educating and inspiring people to a higher, previously unknown, principle ‑‑ removal of the Vertebral Subluxation Complex (VSC) on a lifetime family basis. Each option is exclusive of the other because of the dominant medical belief held by most people. However, if your MO is to give people what they want, they're not going to be around to find out what they need. Let's examine these two distinct ways of practicing chiropractic.

First, there are the symptom relief chiropractors. Sure, they try to talk about the VSC but, try as they might, their focus is 100% the removal of symptoms via the chiropractic adjustment. Regardless of the procedures they swear they implement, they don't have a complete system in place that educates each patient to what chiropractic is. And because of this, they allow patients to tell them what to do. But, of course in the process, DCs are going to "change" their minds and make them good chiropractic patients. Good luck, it won't happen.

Typically these offices adjust patients on the first visit, make financial deals with them, and as soon as the symptoms or the insurance is gone, so are the patients.

Patients being adjusted in these offices see their doctor of last resort (a.k.a. chiropractor) for nothing more than a few "treatments" for symptoms only. Talk about frustrating! No family participation, no wellness, and like parents with no spine, these DCs cave in to their patients' wants... because of financial considerations.

Now, let's switch to subluxation‑ based wellness offices. From the get‑go, these practices have a complete system of education in place for every patient who walks through the door, allowing patients to decide which care is right for them. There's no forcing of patients to choose any one type of care. These DCs are quite familiar with the three types of patients and expect nothing from any of them. Their behavior will signal who they are from the very first phone call.

In these offices, there's no frustration on the doctor's part because the DC exposes every patient to a new concept of health via the office procedures ‑‑ spinal injuries that healed wrong and adversely affect health. Once alerted to this new health concept, there are profound behavioral changes in people.

They come to you after their insurance runs out, and if they don't have insurance, they (gasp!) pay cash. They ask you to examine family members. They voluntarily come to your orientation with family and friends. How's that for weird behavior?

The difference between what patients want and what they need could fill the Grand Canyon.

Ask yourself what people addicted to alcohol want and the answer is a whiskey bottle. They don't need a whiskey bottle, they need to get healthy so the nerve system and brain don't crave self‑medication. Ask impoverished people what they want and it's, of course, money. What they need is a lifestyle that supports self‑esteem and the ability to earn an income.

How about us as DCs? We want more new patients, right? This is where the "get 'em in, use 'em up and find some more" scenario begins. When will we, as chiropractors, ever learn? This is the leaky bucket style of practice that has infected and decimated our ranks since the advent of insurance that re‑imburses for symptom removal a la the medical model. What we as a profession, along with the rest of the world, need are more educated patients who make chiropractic a lifestyle for themselves, their families and their community.

When people are educated to what health really is, they don't fall for the gimmicks and fads of "outside in" medical care, or at least not as often. For example, look at the flu vaccine debacle. Can you imagine waiting for hours on end only to demand foreign material be injected into your system? This has nothing to do with health and wellness, only sickness, fear and disease. MDs are waging price wars to get this toxin injected into people who bid the highest. When was the last time a patient called you, willing to wait in line, and demanded wellness appointments for all of his or her family members?

When you clearly identify yourself as a wellness chiropractor, people will be attracted to you for who you are, not who you're aren't. Don't be afraid to have a person who demands instant results leave your office in search of the one crack wonder. The whole world is searching for true wellness. Don't run away from your destiny, become a part of it. Your life, your practice and your community will never be the same.

(A complete system of practice based on science and philosophy working on the doctor from the inside out, The New Renaissance is the next generation of office procedures and patient education for today's chiropractor who wants to implement the chiropractic mindset of success. The new Mentor IV Practice Development Program takes 24 years of the pioneering experience of Renaissance procedures and combines it with the practical daily activities of doctors in the field. To learn more about The New Renaissance, contact The New Renaissance World Headquarters at 800‑525‑3879.)