Chiropractic Today and Tomorrow

Randall Hammett, DC

Private Practice of Chiropractic

INTRODUCTION

To be or not to be, is the final question for chiropractic. I believe that chiropractic will survive in the future, but I am not sure in what form. With small groups of confused and disillusioned chiropractors trying to ape to medical doctors by trying to prescribe drugs or becoming  spa owners by  performing cosmetic alterations or poking holes in the body with needles to stimulate or inhibit yin or yang. The whole profession seems to be confused about what it is and isn’t, and is the public.

In these economic times, as with the past poor economic times, chiropractors jump to fringe of healthcare or in other words they try anything to make a buck. Don’t get me wrong, there is still a strong undertow of traditional chiropractic out there, but every year it seems to weaken.  Chiropractors sucking at the trough of ever lessening insurance coverage look to supplement their incomes outside chiropractic. In the main, this is not a bad idea from a business standpoint of view but the main problem is with the public’s perception.

The perception in the public is that chiropractors are back doctors or are they? Our fate was sealed years ago when we did not demand our own set of Chiropractic CPT Codes and now we have pigeonholed ourselves into the “back business” instead of the health business. Chiropractors who are desperate for more business profess “Wellness” clinics at the same time the medical profession is doing the same. If history has taught us anything about chiropractic, it is that when a chiropractor stands upon the platform of correcting nerve interference his or hers practice thrives with or without insurance. BJ Palmer warned us years ago of what is now become the norm in chiropractic. Meaning, chiropractors educated without the knowledge of when, where and where not to adjust for nerve interference is the norm. But boy, can they pass board exams. Chiropractic colleges of today are not even calling themselves chiropractic colleges, not because chiropractic doesn’t work, but because they need more money to survive. So, I have to ask you what chiropractic is to you, because that’s what it has become to your patients. Is it correcting vertebral subluxation or is it physical, nutritional or laser therapy, weight control or spa services such as pedicures and manicures?

You see we’ve already screwed up chiropractic pretty good by confusing the public on when they need a chiropractor and when they don’t. We have further gone the wrong direction, in my opinion, by not emphasizing and all agreeing that our profession is about what its founder said it was.  Don’t get me wrong, people need therapies, advice on nutrition and exercises that they are not getting from the medical profession and we should give it to them and charge a fair fee, but the emphasis of a chiropractic office must be about correcting nerve interference.  As we move further away from this, I predict that there will be a schism in the profession and that you will have to decide what type of chiropractic you are going to practice and accept the consequences of your decision. If you are looking for your practice to grow and to be re-energized you only need to look at your precision in finding and correcting nerve interference, treating your patients with respect and earning their trust as their family doctor, not as their “wellness” doctor.    

SUMMARY

I know this for the truth, that the public is hungry for the old family doctor. The role their medical physician can no longer fill, but you can. Focus on becoming your patient’s family doctor, not just a sign on your clinic that says “family practice”, but truly a doctor who families will come to see and trust as they once did 50 years ago. If you want a better practice give your patients what they want… A real Doctor!  Till next time…