CHIROPRACTIC EXCELLENCE

Here’s some vital questions to ask yourself: Which member of your business…

1) Educates your practice members more simply and effectively than you do?

2) Listens to your patients’ “dirty laundry” and counsels and advises them at the same time?

3) Stimulates more referrals than any other marketing source than you could ever invent?

4) Is more likely to hug, wipe tears, encourage and listen to the people who pay your bills?

5) Placates disgruntled customers who are sick of being kept waiting, or haven’t had their questions answered to their satisfaction?

6) Would like to be more involved in the healing process than you recognise and give credit for?

And all we worry about is did they take the correct money, make the next booking correctly, get people into the adjusting room when we needed them there, keep the kids quiet in the play area, and still manage to book in 3 new patients who rang while 5 people were queued at the front desk?

That’s right, I’m talking about your CA, receptionist, secretary, personal assistant - whatever you call them.

After asking yourself the above questions; next ask your best CA/s: “Would you like to be more involved in the healing process, and learn some new skills?” You may be surprised by the answers you get.

Here’s three ways you can up-skill your most valuable business asset:

A) Involve them in the interview or case history process - Use pre-formatted questionnaires to save you time and actually improve your record keeping. A good CA will have already heard most of the person’s life, family and health history, and will probably know more about what is really worrying the person, before they even see your face: Your CA is the ideal person to select the most appropriate paperwork for each new client, and then to follow up at a pre-determined time to review the questionnaire again.

ACTION STEP: Click Here To Check Out Health Questionnaires That Your CA Could Be Trained To Administer…

B) Get them trained in aspects of the examination procedures - There are some amazing technologies which improve your objective analysis of your patients’ state of wellbeing, and some of these can be trained and delegated to a tech-CA.

ACTION STEP: Have some of your CAs complete the Super Posture program - they will learn how to perform low-tech and high-tech postural assessment and even how to prescribe some corrective exercises: Click Here To Find Out More About The Super Posture Program…

C) Select some therapeutic modalities which can be administered by an assistant under your oversight - Consider this - As your practice expands you may assume that the way to increase your volume and turnover is to employ an associate DC. Most associate DCs will drain up to 60% of the money they generate. How about delegating some of the less skilled and time effective activities to well trained staff who work for an hourly rate? You could dramatically increase your patient flow and diversify your services (and increase customer satisfaction) at a fraction of the overhead.

ACTION STEP: Click Here To Find Out About A Treatment Modality That Can Be Delegated To Tech Assistants…

A Picture Paints A Thousand Words!

Many Chiropractors analyse their new patients’ posture, and then scribble lines on a stick figure chart that is supposed to represent the person’s postural distortions? Try showing the hand-drawn diagram to the person - IT WILL MEAN NOTHING TO THEM - And it’s not a very convincing communication medium. Try showing the diagram to another chiropractor - I bet they won’t even understand what the markings mean. Then try using this diagram at the re-exam - How could you objectively measure, let alone demonstrate to the client that any sort of change has occurred?

Some others have entered the twentieth century and have started to take digital photos of their practice members’ posture. I’ve seen some who print the photos and then draw lines all over the picture to highlight the problems. But the question remains - How can you objectively track and demonstrate the changes that are occurring in their posture? And, how could you store, file and retrieve all those images?

There is a twenty first century technology that is cheap and effective for storing, analysing, calculating, retrieving, and comparing digital postural analyses - And it takes about the same time as a traditional postural assessment…

Click Here To Find Out More…

The Million Dollar Question

Many of us now call ourselves “Wellness DCs” or “Healthy Lifestyle Doctors” or some other impressive sounding title - I guess we are trying to differentiate our services from the other “garden variety” DCs? But these titles often are a reflection of us, and not a true reflection of how our customers really see us, or how they themselves behave. Maybe we exercise regularly, get adjusted every 1-2 weeks, keep a positive outlook, eat organic etc. But then we have 80% of our practice on monthly schedules, and have no discernable influence on their other healthy habits?

I suffered a daunting revelation when I upgraded my technique and scheduling systems to a more “wellness” driven focus. You see I used to spend ~15 minutes with each client, and they loved my soft-tissue techniques, and often complimented me on my ability to find the sore spots and to provide instantaneous relief from their musculoskeletal aches and pains. Not that there is anything wrong with this - but my mission is to improve the health and wellness of everyone that I can influence - not to be the natural alternative to Nurofen and Panadeine. And when I changed my technique to a neurological model, many left the practice before they could possibly experience the extra health benefits - why? “Because I didn’t rub their shoulders”!

So, what do YOUR clients really think of YOU? Here is the million dollar question to ask your practice members that will inform you of the truth…

“If you could come and have an adjustment whenever you wanted to, and it didn’t cost you anything, how often would you come?”

1) If the answer is, “Oh I’d come every single week, and sometimes even more”: Congratulations - you probably are truly a wellness DC - your clients truly comprehend the global benefits of an adjustment. They probably perceive the reduction in tension and stress, the improved sleep patterns, the maximised immunity, and the increases in energy after each adjustment.

2) “Oh, I’d come every 4-6 weeks”: Maybe you should replace the title “Wellness” with “Maintenance” DC. Your clients have probably discovered that if they go longer than 4-6 weeks, that their aches and pains start to increase in severity and regularity. Your periodical adjustments offer them effective and lasting pain relief.

3) “Oh, I’d come a 2-3 times a year”: I actually don’t quite understand this concept - maybe it’s because they get their car serviced twice a year, and go to the dentist twice a year, and floss their teeth twice a year, and make love twice a year? I’m not sure of what possible benefit two adjustments per year could have - maybe I underestimate the power of an adjustment?

4) “Oh, I’d come in whenever I had a problem”: Whoops, if you get a lot of this answer, then it is time to change your title to “garden variety DC”.

To take this question to the next level: If your practice members answer that they would like to come more often than they actually do - the next question to ask is - “What do we need to do to help you come as often as you would really like to?” - now its time to work out a strategy, schedule, fee, that makes their dream a reality…

Click Here To Find Out More About Practice Change Coaching…

There seems to be a mythology in chiropractic that the average person is unable to comprehend the nervous system - IF this is true it is because no-one has ever taken the time to teach them…

Masseurs and Physios are hardly going to teach ANY principles that explain the nervous systems’ role in health and disease. The pharmaceutical companies and AMA would probably prefer that the average person did not understand the CNS, except that they have drugs that can block all pain and unwanted emotions. Not many people are going to see a neurologist in their life - and those who do rarely come away with any insight into the normal functions of the CNS.

You’re a chiropractor - it is your calling to teach the world about the importance of a healthy and fully functional nerve system. No-one else will. The simplest way to do this is in bite-sized chunks…

1) Explain at the very beginning of your relationship with a new client that the nervous system controls and regulates ALL bodily functions, and therefore everything that you do to them is is all about improving their nervous system; and warn them that you will tend to explain everything to them in terms of the nervous system so that they can better understand their own body and how to look after it.

2) Convert your explanations of your exam procedures to neuro speak: eg. POSTURE - Posture is not a biomechanical phenomenon - it is a neurological phenomenon - it represents the body’s ability to perceive and position itself against gravity - its effectiveness in maintaining the sphenoid directly above the coccyx - this requires proprioception and fine-motor control. When you display a person’s postural distortions to them, forget the mechanical talk about the spine bending forwards and putting more strain on the discs. Instead explain to them that the reason their head has got into such a ridiculous position is because their brain doesn’t know where their head is; and the most likely reason for this is something (a subluxation) blocking the information getting from their neck joints and muscles to their brain.

When you explain spinal XRays spend as little time explaining the shape and position of the vertebrae; instead teach them how the changes on the XRays will be affecting their CNS: “See how your neck is leaning forward, and has become straight - this will be stretching your spinal cord like someone trying to wring out a wet towel”. Look at this extra backwards bend in your low back; look at the size of the holes between the vertebrae - this is where the nerves have to exit to control your body - what effect do you think this squishing will have on the nerve’s ability to transmit information?

3) Do an audit of each of your exam procedures and examine your explanations. Then re-write your description for that procedure in terms of the nervous system - you can do it - you’re a chiropractor. AND/OR Attend a TRT seminar and we will help to show you all the neurological indicators that you can use to assess, explain and educate your practice members.

4) Explain the outcomes of your adjustments in terms of the nervous system and then show them the changes that occur in their positive findings when they are adjusted. When you learn TRT you will be able do do this in a few short moments…

Click Here To Find Out More About TRT Training…

What are the secret ingredients which define a chiropractic adjustment? What are the features that separate an adjustment from other therapeutic modalities? What are the factors that differentiate a good adjustment from a bad adjustment?

Most definitions of “Adjustment” are very mechanistic in nature: “Moving the joints of the spine beyond a person’s usual physiological range of motion using a fast low-amplitude thrust”; “low-amplitude, high-velocity thrusts in which vertebrae are carried beyond the normal physiological range of movement without exceeding the boundaries of anatomic integrity”. The glaring pitfalls of such predominant definitions are that not all chiropractic adjustments carry the joints into their para-physiological range: Does this mean that SOT Blocks are not an adjustment, and that all instrument-based adjusting protocols are not chiropractic?

Perhaps it is time that we re-define the core components that describe a chiropractic adjustment?

Early chiropractic concepts spoke of universal and innate intelligence, the mental impulse, and proposed that a chiropractic adjustment doesn’t correct anything, but innate utilises the forces transmitted to the body following an adjustment to correct itself: In other words, the body is intelligent, but sometimes needs information from an external source to be able to make better perceptions, decisions and choices.

So, an adjustment is not so much an imposition of our will upon another person’s physiology; as it is the delivery of a new and enlightening piece of information which attempts to facilitate neurological change.

Torque Release Technique defines an Adjustment as “communication through touch”. What are the fundamental factors of this healing touch?

Perhaps we could define these in a physics-like formula…

A = F × CV × I2

In long-hand this translates to: Adjustment equals Force times Correctional Vector times Intent (squared).

Let’s explore this formula in greater detail:

The times signs indicate that each factor has a more significant impact on the other and on the total result than if instead the addition symbol was present; and that if all factors are present the resulting answer will be huge:

For example, in mathematical terms if each factor = 10, then A = 10 × 10 × 100 = 10,000

If the symbols had been additive the answer would be A = 10 + 10 + 100 = 120

If you minimise one of the factors then the answer is minimized:

To alter the above example slightly, if F = 1, then A = 1 × 10 × 100 = 1,000

The square symbol shows the “I” factor has the potential for greater impact: If this factor is small then the formula will not change much. Increase this factor and its impact becomes greater and greater at an exponential rate:

For example if we alter our original formula so that I = 1, then A = 10 × 10 × 1 = 100

Whereas if I = 100, then A = 10 × 10 × 10,000 = 1,000,000!!

Now let’s define the factors in more detail:

Force = Mass × Acceleration:

This is an old Newtonian formula. Every adjustment has force – an adjustment with no force at all is just a good intention. To increase force we either increase the mass or the acceleration, and if you increase both then the force greatly increases. In terms of a chiropractic adjustment, any experienced chiropractor knows the importance of speed over mass: The quicker you are the less the mass you have to use, and the more easily an adjustment is accepted. I guarantee that an adjustment will appear “heavy-handed” to a client due to excessive mass, and not due to excessive speed

Correctional Vector = Contact Point + Three-Dimensional Vector:

The force of an adjustment must have a point of contact and a direction: Specificity is what separates chiropractic adjustment from so many other therapeutic modalities, and without correctional vector I doubt that chiropractic would have attained separate and distinct status. Firstly we are more discerning in where we place our hands; for example, we don’t just stretch the lumbar spine, we adjust an L5.

Also integral in most chiropractic adjustment protocols is the direction in which we apply our force: Our predominant “listing” systems incorporate three letters to define the direction and combination of vectors in three dimensions, which we utilised in our adjustment. And we may even add a fourth letter to further define our contact point… For example: C2 PLI-S – we contacted C2 and our vector was in a direction to reduce the left and inferior vectors of the subluxation, and we used the spinous process as the contact point.

Intent = Become One + Visualisation + See Whole

R.W. Stephenson described the essential components of intent. Intent could be simply explained as what we are thinking about as we deliver an adjustment. But it can also mean much more than this as it may include our own emotional, physiological and even spiritual states.

“Become One” encompasses an almost spiritual connection that occurs when we as a practitioner enter into another’s “energy” or “intelligence” field. The insinuation is that when we come so close there is an influence between the two fields of intelligence. This has ramifications at a diagnostic level in the sense that we can potentially gather much deeper levels of information if we are perceptive to the other person’s “field”; and at a therapeutic level we potentially enter into a deep level for the transaction of information taking place.

“Visualisation” defines the need to see what we are doing: Can we imagine the structures and tissues that we are examining; can we envisage the impact that our testing and corrective vectors are having on the person’s physiology; can we see the effects of our adjustment before they actually occur?

“See whole” describes our intent: Wholeness. After our practice member is adjusted their mind/body is able to better perceive itself, the communications between mind and body are restored, and their physiology becomes more efficient and effective. Do you expect this? Do you actually SEE this occurring in your mind’s eye?

What separates an adjustment from other therapeutic modalities? The size of each factor illustrates its relative importance in the formula:

Massage = f ( m × a ) × CV × I2

Therapeutic massage is separated from relaxation massage by how deep the practitioner penetrates; that is by how much mass they use: Mass is probably the most dominant vector in the therapeutic formula. Acceleration is extremely small as most massage involves slow strokes. The vectors are usually unfocussed and very mixed, sometimes the more directions you sweep across a muscle the better. Intent is somewhat diminished due to poor visualization (most masseurs have inferior anatomical and physiological knowledge) but will have a high degree of connection and a desire to see whole.

Manipulation = f ( m × a ) × CV × I2

Manipulation is usually a mechanistic attempt to produce separation and preferably cavitation of joint surfaces: The Mass is increased and Acceleration is relatively high to achieve this end. Correctional vectors are minimised usually only involving two dimensions and are not seen as so important many times both directions/sides being manipulated to maximise the stretch effect. The intent is small, the need to become one being irrelevant, visualization being for the purpose of finding the structure to be manipulated and the outcome seen being no bigger than to cavitate a joint or to increase flexibility.

Acupuncture = f ( m × a ) × CV × I2

An acupuncture needle delivers minimal mass with no acceleration, so force is almost absent. The correctional vectors are so important, much care being taken in the location of the needles and in the precision of their insertion. The contact points are very different to a chiropractic adjustment relying on a totally different bodily system. The vitalistic intent of the acupuncturist must be considered equal to that of the principled chiropractor as they too expect great things from their therapeutic modality and it could even be argued that they are bolder in their therapeutic claims.

What differentiates a great adjustment from a bad adjustment? The adjustment with “that something extra” requires a precise combination of the secret ingredients…

Great Adjustment = f ( m × a ) × CV × I2

Bad Adjustment = f ( m × a ) × CV × I2

Keys to the adjustment with “that something extra”…

• Maximise acceleration and minimise Mass.
• Utilise a precise system to determine the most effective combination of contact point and correctional vectors.
• Maximise Intent by respecting and perceiving the connection between you and your practice member, visualizing every aspect of your analysis and correction, and having a clear picture of the intended outcomes.

Click Here To Find Out More About TRT Training…