October 2004
Kids are the key
by Dr. Dennis Nikitow
If you want to have a
large family practice, the key is kids. Putting kids in your practice is
easy if you implement certain steps in to your system of practice:
1. Establish a
wellness model. The first
step to putting kids in your practice is having the belief system that
chiropractic is for overall wellness. Consider this, if the spine is
subluxated and function can be affected chemically, physically, and
mentally, this is not a treatment for back pain. Our job is to align
the spine for nerve integrity and educate the patient that we are not
treating symptoms or conditions.
They also need to
understand that spinal subluxations are silent like cavities, heart disease,
or cancer. If people thought subluxations cause symptoms, they would never
bring their kids to get checked.
If they understand that
subluxations disrupt the body's ability to function normally, see the
research that has been done supporting this and the testimonials of
patients whose wellness has improved, they'll want to make sure their kids
aren't subluxated.
2. Relate posture
to subluxations. Teach
patients how to read posture. If the posture is off, so is the spine. Tilts
in the skull, shoulders, and hips can cause scoliosis. The forward head
posture (FHP) is the most common postural problem and it's the easiest to
identify. Teach patients to check their children for postural distortions
and relate them to spinal alignment.
3. Show the
heredity of posture. Remind
patients that kids not only look like their parents from the outside but
their children may be developing the problem they have in their posture and
spinal alignment. If medical history asks about heart disease, cancer, and
scoliosis, people have to be made aware that their children do not only have
their parents' eyes and nose, they have their posture and spinal alignment,
too. This awareness will stimulate people to bring their children in to get
checked because they want to ward off problems in their kids.
4. Link bad
posture habits to subluxations.
Most people have an idea that slouching can affect your posture, but don't
really understand the dynamic of nerve and muscle memory as it applies to
posture and health.
What we know as
morphologic or synaptogenisis neuroplasticity and dendritic sprouting due to
repetition and adaptation, people know as nerve muscle memory. We need to
explain that repetitive posturing movements will fire nerve receptors
(mechanoreceptors) to stimulate muscles to pull the posture in that
direction resulting in subluxations.
FHP is the most common
and easiest postural problem to identify. At the end of your exam, explain
to the patient that they have FHP and it runs in the family. Give them the
FHP brochure and have them check their children for it.
At the ROF, explain the
two types of DCs, wellness, and your family policy. Simply put, while
chiropractic is not a treatment for back pain it IS for wellness
because nerve interference from subluxations affects all types of body
functions. If subluxations are silent and they affect the body's ability to
function optimally, and kids not only look like parents from the outside,
what if they're subluxated? Why should they be left at home to develop what
parents are coming in to fix? Offer to check them as a courtesy to the
patient and watch how many people automatically bring their kids in.
5. Create a
kid‑stimulating office. If
possible, establish a corner of your office for a kids area and put up kids
posters that educate parents to get their children under chiropractic care
for spinal maintenance (Certainty Products offers a series of great ones
that includes posters with medical research supporting why kids should have
adjustments).
Have a bulletin board
for articles on kids, chiropractic, backpack safety, dangers of
subluxations, nutrition, etc. Constantly refer to kids in your adjustment
room dialogue, including testimonials.
6. Affordable
family plans. This is the
final step, establishing payment plans families can afford. Don't treat kids
for free because it lowers the value of the adjustment. Why should parents
pay $50‑100 for a pediatric appointment for a child's sore throat and pay
you nothing for an adjustment while it enhances the immune system and
helps the body cure itself in 92% of cases ("Blocked Atlantal Nerve Syndrome
in Infants and Small Children," Gutmann 1987)?
As a suggestion, you
could use a percentage deduction for each subsequent family member, or half
price for kids at a certain age if the rest of the family is coming in.
If you start developing
a family wellness practice with kids now, when they're older they will make
chiropractic part of their health care team for their families, too. Isn't
that the healthy change we're trying to make? Remember, if you want to see
change, be the change first.
(To learn about
Certainty Practice Products and Dr. Dennis Nikitow's upcoming seminar
schedule, call 800‑544‑3884. Outside the U.S., 303‑721‑6202.)
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