A few weeks ago I had a new chiropractic patient return for her 2nd visit and she was elated.\u00a0 She had suffered with headaches and neck pain for 10 years. \u00a0Medications and her MD offered little relief. Now before you roll your eyes and dismiss this as another chiropractic \u201cmiracle story\u201d, read on. \u00a0Chiropractic did help, but it\u2019s not even the point of my little story.<\/p>\n
After a routine supine diversified occiput adjustment she was already experiencing relief from her symptoms. Her neck pain and headache were gone, but to my surprise it wasn\u2019t the main\u00a0reason for her happiness.<\/p>\n
She was just as pleased to see improvement in her condition as I was, but she kept raving about something else. She continually\u00a0commented on how happy she was to finally<\/em> have a health care provider listen to her and treat her like a person.<\/p>\n She spoke of how she was brushed off and swept away from MD to MD to specialist in the past.\u00a0 She\u00a0expressed her disgust with being treated more as a dollar sign, or object, than a person by many\u00a0other health care providers.<\/p>\n She complained of being greeted at most providers\u2019 offices with \u201cDo you have your co-payment today?\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 She also expressed the reluctance with which she sought chiropractic care. (It seems her friends and family members had encountered chiropractic salesmen in the past who were preoccupied with high pressure sales of\u00a0lifetime care and supplements).<\/p>\n She thanked me for listening, for a no pressure chiropractic practice, and for my straightforward\u00a0approach.\u00a0 It was then I started to realize we sometimes take the little things for granted in Chiropractic.\u00a0 What has the world become when patients are pleasantly surprised when they are treated fairly and with the respect they deserve?<\/p>\n I\u2019m known for being fair and honest with my patients.\u00a0 It\u2019s not a marketing tactic; I do it because I vowed a long time ago to treat my patients as I\u2019d want my family members treated. During our initial meeting and report of findings\u00a0I\u00a0tell every patient\u00a0that I have no idea whether or not\u00a0Chiropractic will help relieve their symptoms.\u00a0 I believe in Chiropractic; I\u2019m just not as concerned with\u00a0chasing symptoms as most patients are.\u00a0 I tell\u00a0each patient that there is always a benefit to Chiropractic care, but it\u2019s not always the solution they may be seeking.<\/p>\n I believe in Chiropractic and my abilities.\u00a0 I\u2019m also realistic and respectful of my limitations and the limitations of Chiropractic care.\u00a0 I\u2019m not shy about getting a patient the help they need, even if it hurts my checking account.\u00a0 If I feel a patient would be better served by co-care with another type of provider I\u2019ll happily refer them out.\u00a0 In very\u00a0rare cases a patient just isn\u2019t\u00a0a candidate\u00a0for chiropractic care. \u00a0I am not afraid to admit that and send the patient on their way to the help they need.<\/p>\n We see so many advertisements for how to get and keep new chiropractic patients, how to \u201cexplode\u201d our practice, and how to increase our bottom line that it can knock us off course.\u00a0 We can forget how powerful things as basic as our attitude or\u00a0 approach to Chiropractic can be.\u00a0 It\u2019s amazing how important a follow up phone call, an extra 5 minutes, or a caring ear can be to a patient.<\/p>\n Chiropractic is not about dollar signs, lifetime care, or a million dollar practice.\u00a0 It\u2019s about the patient and their best interests. Many times that is chiropractic care\u2026and sometimes it\u2019s not. Our priorities should always be\u00a0the patient first, then\u00a0the\u00a0Chiropractic profession, and then our practice.\u00a0 I approach Chiropractic with this attitude and it\u2019s great to be reminded that patients do see it and respect it.<\/p>\n Keep ethics, honesty, and the best interests of your patients as your main motivation. They really are the best Chiropractic marketing tools\u00a0you can invest in.\u00a0 The proof lies in the fact that this patient has already referred a friend and family member, not because I got her out of pain but simply because I listened and treated her with the respect she deserves.\u00a0 Listen to your patients, do what\u2019s best for them, and they will reward you monetarily and otherwise.<\/p>\n I hope this little reminder serves you well.\u00a0 We all need to be reminded from time to time to slow things down and focus on the basics.\u00a0 The key to your chiropractic success may not be in a $800 seminar or $4,000 new patient referral marketing program. The key to your chiropractic success might be as simple as providing quality chiropractic care and treating the patient like you’d want to be treated!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" After a routine supine diversified occiput adjustment she was already experiencing relief from her symptoms. Her neck pain and headache were gone, but to my surprise it wasn\u2019t the main reason for her happiness…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16,17],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clinicallysignificantproductions.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clinicallysignificantproductions.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clinicallysignificantproductions.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clinicallysignificantproductions.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clinicallysignificantproductions.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.clinicallysignificantproductions.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clinicallysignificantproductions.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clinicallysignificantproductions.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clinicallysignificantproductions.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}