April 2007

Letting down the team

by Dr. Kevin Pallis and Dr. Ed Plentz

Many DCs reading this may get the feeling someone has placed a microphone inside their head. We get so many calls from doctors who want to help people with chiropractic, however they lack the attraction skills or the communication skills to be successful.

They think that chiropractic has let them down. They are $150,000 in debt and have resentment toward the very thing that took seven‑to‑nine years to attain. This is one of the hardest concepts for many chiropractors to grasp: Your degree does not guarantee your success, YOU do!

Chiropractic can't let you down, only you can let the team down.

Chiropractic came into our culture almost by accident. It actually existed before it was discovered. Prior to 1895, total body health was affected by a nerve system with interference. Regardless if you believe it or not, this is a natural law. D.D. Palmer did not invent this principle, he happened upon it and came to understand it.

Since chiropractic's inception, it has been open to individual interpretation and legislation, to personal beliefs and agendas. Some DCs believe that chiropractic is for every man, woman and child from birth to death. Some believe it's a sacred gift to be shared with the world. Others believe it's simply a way to earn a living.

The more intense our feeling for chiropractic, the more successful we will become. Yet, there is now a trend towards abandoning our philosophy and belief in chiropractic and putting this belief into trendy, non‑chiropractic income‑earning opportunities, not because we want to, but for survival. This is where we let the team down.

We are getting further and further away from our gift. This is where we slowly begin to lose our purpose.

In any form of reason or philosophy if there is no custodianship or guardianship for the next generation, then time will expose the idea or concept as fallacious. This is natural law. With no responsibility to the next generation, society will view chiropractic as a short‑term concept that will not endure. Loudly proclaiming that you were not trained to see families will not lessen your responsibility. People who attend to the future needs of society are rewarded and will stand the test of time. People who try to be everything to everyone will fade into oblivion.

When you look at the popular magazines of the masses, you read the outcry from parents about children's failing health. People who accept sickness and talk about why they can't have health, instead of why they can be healthy, are crippling these children's potential and futures. Those who don't know about health talk about the problems, but the people in the know talk about solutions.

Society is literally searching and crying out for leaders in health and wellness, not more imitators of the allopathic paradigm of sickness and disease. Why would you jump aboard a boat that is sinking? Our society has spoken. People want wellness for themselves and their families. They want a higher quality of life. Why do you think that plastic surgery is so popular? People want to feel better about themselves.

Being truly healthy gives you a lasting good feeling about yourself. People will do whatever it takes to accomplish this. The barrier to this is education. The public still identifies chiropractic with adult musculoskeletal problems. We are the only profession that discriminates based on age and symptoms. Imagine a teacher only teaching adults, religious leaders only teaching adults about their religion, or dentists only seeing adults. When we as chiropractors realize our role as educators our patient base becomes more diversified. People with and without symptoms want what you have. They are willing to learn if only someone will take the time to educate them.

Quantum physics, collective consciousness, chaos theory all point to the philosophy of chiropractic as being right on the money. There is a life and intelligence in the body that is non‑linear and the sum of the whole is more than the parts. When we water down our reality to what people will accept, i.e., symptomatic relief only, we actually let down the team.

There are so many DCs who are shackled to a lifeless, passionless existence of giving in to patients' demands and caving in to insurance adjusters and what the public thinks chiropractic is.

Chiropractic is for so much more than back pain. For those who are courageous and can accept new ideas and concepts, embrace all of the possibilities rather than only what you learned in school.

Doctors, reclaim your dignity, your purpose and the identity of chiropractic. Purposeful chiropractors don't let the team down.

(The New Renaissance is a movement of passionate chiropractors dedicated to changing the world. The leader in patient education since 1977, the Mentor IV Coaching Program is a step‑by‑step navigational guide that embodies the very essence of The New Renaissance vision of healthier people creating a healthier world. Without patient education, your patients won't "get it." To learn more about The New Renaissance, contact world headquarters at 800‑525‑3879.)