has our profession become so diluted in its product that our identity has been watered down to what many now call “physiopractic?” Chiropractors are out there doing acu-puncture, ultrasound, laser, tens, low volt stimulation, shock wave, ART, Graston, etc. – and now we want to add pre-scription drugs? Even our school is providing more hours for soft tissue and modalities than chiropractic technique. My belief is that we have become a symptom-based rather than a wellness-based profession. All our marketing and focus is on pain so the public thinks that is all we are about. If all chiropractors were busy in their respective practices, the idea of prescribing drugs would be of little interest – which leads to the question: why are many chiropractors not as busy as they want to be? I believe that if you focus only on symptoms, then you are forever looking for patients to fill the void. One of my early practice mentors was Dr. James Carter, who taught us wellness-based case histories. Even though the patient usually comes in with pain, while doing a history we ask questions and explain that “sometimes misalignment of the spine can cause…” (and we mention a host of internal symptoms). We plant the seed that there can be a relation-ship between subluxation and internal health. When we do our progress exams in 12 visits we revisit the findings that were positive. Example would be, “When you initially pre-sented to our office with lower back pain you also mentioned that you had headaches, low energy, trouble sleeping, and constipation. Did those issues get better, same or worse?” It’s amazing how often they will remark better, then you relate how subluxations can affect internal health. Your faith confidence and belief as a chiropractor will increase if you yourself see these changes that you previously heard about but were skeptical. The more faith, confidence and belief you have the more people are attracted to you. After initial exams, a health talk to a group of your new patients – explaining why chiropractic takes time, their re-sponsibilities in recovery, and what spinal adjustments ac-tually do – is also worthwhile. If you do full spine initial histories, exams, adjusting, and communication on each visit, you’ll see how the practice grows. People now see you beyond just a “crack for back pain.” Guess what: they stay, pay and refer. They are happy and you are as well. Do we really want drugs in our profession? I ask you to think long and hard about that decision as people increas-ingly want more drug-free, healthy choices. Hold on to your philosophy, it is what started this great profession. Opioids are on the rise, we have a so-called crisis. An opioid is a drug, stay drugless my friends. www.canadianchiropractor.ca CC_Matrix_Dec17_CSA.indd 1 December 2017 Canadian Chiropractor 19 2017-11-09 7:15 AM
Chiropractic + Naturopathic Doctor December 2017: Page 19
