Whether a person chooses to continue or discontinue chiropractic care depends upon how much the person values the care when compared with how much they feel it is costing them.
If the value appears greater than the cost the patient will continue care. If the cost appears to become more than the value they will discontinue treatment. The more we can increase the perceived value the less we need to worry about the cost!
VALUE INCREASERS:
1) Experiencing benefits from chiropractic care. Especially if those benefits are over and above the initial complaint or the benefits expected.
2) Increased education and understanding about chiropractic.
3) Third parties (family and friends) experiencing benefits: Another great reason to stimulate referrals quickly.
4) A “paradigm shift”: Changing people's attitudes from “don't fix it till it's broke”, to one of maintenance, prevention and/or preferably wellness. That is “getting the BIG idea”!
COST INCREASERS:
1) Financial constraints: The amazing thing about this factor is that the more you can increase perceived value the less important this becomes. If you want it then you will find a way to pay. However cost is one of the main reasons people discontinue.
2) Time constraints: The old saying is that “time is money”. If it takes a person more than 20 minutes to drive to your practice; then they sit in your waiting room for 20 minutes; then it takes 15 minutes to get adjusted; then it takes 5 minutes to pay and reschedule – that’s 80 minutes out of their life. And then you tell them you want to see them 3 times a week? Big cost.
VALUE DECREASERS:
1) No or slow perceived response to treatment.
2) A reaction to an adjustment.
3) 'Chiropractic consultants': Rumor, opinion and hearsay can always affect the attitude of a new member of the chiropractic “family”.
4) Our attitude towards chiropractic: It 'rubs off' you know!
5) “The law of diminishing intent”: Ever made a new year’s resolution; then a few weeks later it just doesn't seem that important any more? Day to day stresses and commitments and the distractions of “life” seem to get in the way. That is – the original commitment gradually becomes diluted to the point of becoming unimportant:
If we constantly feed, reinforce and nurture our goals and resolutions there is less chance of them fading and getting lost in this way. It is never safe to think that a patient has got “the big idea” now, and will hence have it forever – they need constant feeding, reinforcement and nurturing of their goals and resolutions.
TWO WAYS TO GET PEOPLE TO DO THINGS:
1) Control and manipulate: This is like trying to get a donkey to move by putting a carrot in front of its nose or hitting it from behind with a big stick. The problem with these techniques is that the reward or the punishments need to be continually increased to receive the same response over a long period of time.
In our health care setting this would take claiming bigger and bigger benefits to our patients as they feel better (the carrot), or convincing people that if they don't continue to see us something terrible will happen to them (the stick). At some point in time the carrot and the stick will not be big enough!
2) Build relationships and teach by example: This is not about getting people to do what we want them to do: It is about showing people how they can get what they want – by following our example!
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
WHY ATTEND TORQUE RELEASE TECHNIQUE TRAINING?
There are SO many chiropractic programs and techniques available to Chiropractors nowadays – Alphabet Soup you might say. For this reason it is imperative that each DC choose programs which are going to give them real value for their money. Nobody wants to attend a program which gives them one take-home strategy which they will use on one patient a week; or worse still leave the class and never implement a single aspect of the training. Below is my list of reasons to attend Torque Release Technique based on feedback from previous graduates of what changes the most in a DC’s life after attending a TRT program…
1) Better results with the majority of your patients – so many programs tell you that they are going to help you get better results with those “problem patients”. Isn’t it perplexing how we forget about the 80% that are getting good results and focus our minds on that 10% that isn’t responding: And we’ll spend big dollars attending a program that will help us get better results with the people who provide us with a small proportion of our income!! What if you could attend a program that will convert your good results to great results – imagine what will happen when 80% of your practice is getting better results?
2) Absolute certainty that you are adjusting the subluxation which most needs to be adjusted, at that moment in time, with the correct vectors and contacts – by contrast most other systems give you a list of possible subluxations, and then you either adjust all of them or make some subjective decision as to which ones you will adjust on that visit – and then there’s a bunch of systems that place no value or priority on what needs to be adjusted (if it pops then it must have needed it) – near enough is not good enough.
3) Increased retention – Because most other systems are linear and mechanistic they don’t adapt to the change that is happening: They see patient plateau at some point in the care program – plateau is the biggest enemy of retention – TRT is non-linear and vitalistic – in other words; the adjustments adapt and evolve as the patient’s nervous system goes through plastic changes – this means that patients keep getting significant changes after each adjustment – and excited patients stay and they refer.
4) Very quick analysis system that helps to cut down the number of adjustments needed each visit while still giving the best results – It IS possible to give someone a high quality adjustment in less than 2 minutes.
5) Less physical strain on the DC’s body – many DCs are paying a personal price physically and mentally due to how hard they are working to give their patients great adjustments – TRT is very easy physically and very orderly mentally – you get to the end of the day with energy still left over for your family and interests.
6) Every DC who has ever implemented TRT to some degree has increased their practice volume, while often reducing their working hours – TRT is very helpful for DCs wanting to practice high volume.
7) It is the first analysis and adjustment system to be totally neurologically based: The indicators we use are neurological indicators, the analysis system we utilise is neurological, and the Integrator adjustment is a neurological intervention.
8) It is the only system that breaks Chiropractic out of a mechanistic model: Most systems talk about the nervous system in terms of the outcomes, but then regress into biomechanical speak, assessment and intervention – “I’m a wellness Chiropractor and I straighten spines” – NOT! – a straight spine does not guarantee wellness – only improved neurological function guarantees wellness.
9) It is the only system that offers a completely vitalistic application of our vitalistic philosophy – totally congruent with the 33 principles and yet current with quantum science: Mechanism is not a subset of vitalism; it is a subset of reductionism. Vitalism requires a respect for the life, spirit, energy and intelligence of human existence – does your “treatment” release human potential, or does it impose your belief of what angle a cervical curve should be?
10) Increased understanding of the emotional component of subluxation – how emotions contributes to subluxation – how subluxation impacts on the emotional component of the nervous system – and most DCs see bigger changes in patients emotional states when they use TRT.
11) Totally congruent with WELLNESS practice – many DCs say they are wellness DCs, but basically have a practice full of people who come for regular check-ups – a wellness practice can only be measured by improved state of wellbeing in the clients, not by how often someone gets adjusted – TRT DCs find that their practice members go through major shifts in their state of wellbeing.
12) The level of satisfaction with the Integrator is much higher than with most other instruments – most DCs use their instrument as an alternative to manual adjusting – when all else fails or when they feel it is not safe to adjust manually. The opposite happens when DCs use Integrators – they are usually shocked to find that they actually get better changes and feel their adjustments “hold” better when using an Integrator. And those recurring subluxations that used to be back again every visit suddenly seem to clear and no longer recur.
13) They discover a massive demographic of new patients who would never see a “bone cruncher” but love the low-force approach – Like it or not – the manual adjustment has been the vehicle with which most DCs have produced great health changes in their customers. But at the same time the manual adjustment suffers from a very poor public relations history: From comedy shows, to fanatical and very vocal cynics, to a large segment of the general populace – there is a huge number of people who question “cracking backs” as being of little therapeutic value, and of much unnecessary risk. When you use a low-force adjusting approach – you enter a new game – and you find a whole new marketplace.
14) Enjoyment, fulfilment, passion and excitement seem to happen in DCs lives. It amazes me how many DCs are actually struggling in practice emotionally – and are in a state of disappointment, boredom or burnout. We get so many phone calls and emails a few months after a TRT program with amazing stories of renewed practices, revived enthusiasm, and unexpected but well-deserved rewards…
1) Better results with the majority of your patients – so many programs tell you that they are going to help you get better results with those “problem patients”. Isn’t it perplexing how we forget about the 80% that are getting good results and focus our minds on that 10% that isn’t responding: And we’ll spend big dollars attending a program that will help us get better results with the people who provide us with a small proportion of our income!! What if you could attend a program that will convert your good results to great results – imagine what will happen when 80% of your practice is getting better results?
2) Absolute certainty that you are adjusting the subluxation which most needs to be adjusted, at that moment in time, with the correct vectors and contacts – by contrast most other systems give you a list of possible subluxations, and then you either adjust all of them or make some subjective decision as to which ones you will adjust on that visit – and then there’s a bunch of systems that place no value or priority on what needs to be adjusted (if it pops then it must have needed it) – near enough is not good enough.
3) Increased retention – Because most other systems are linear and mechanistic they don’t adapt to the change that is happening: They see patient plateau at some point in the care program – plateau is the biggest enemy of retention – TRT is non-linear and vitalistic – in other words; the adjustments adapt and evolve as the patient’s nervous system goes through plastic changes – this means that patients keep getting significant changes after each adjustment – and excited patients stay and they refer.
4) Very quick analysis system that helps to cut down the number of adjustments needed each visit while still giving the best results – It IS possible to give someone a high quality adjustment in less than 2 minutes.
5) Less physical strain on the DC’s body – many DCs are paying a personal price physically and mentally due to how hard they are working to give their patients great adjustments – TRT is very easy physically and very orderly mentally – you get to the end of the day with energy still left over for your family and interests.
6) Every DC who has ever implemented TRT to some degree has increased their practice volume, while often reducing their working hours – TRT is very helpful for DCs wanting to practice high volume.
7) It is the first analysis and adjustment system to be totally neurologically based: The indicators we use are neurological indicators, the analysis system we utilise is neurological, and the Integrator adjustment is a neurological intervention.
8) It is the only system that breaks Chiropractic out of a mechanistic model: Most systems talk about the nervous system in terms of the outcomes, but then regress into biomechanical speak, assessment and intervention – “I’m a wellness Chiropractor and I straighten spines” – NOT! – a straight spine does not guarantee wellness – only improved neurological function guarantees wellness.
9) It is the only system that offers a completely vitalistic application of our vitalistic philosophy – totally congruent with the 33 principles and yet current with quantum science: Mechanism is not a subset of vitalism; it is a subset of reductionism. Vitalism requires a respect for the life, spirit, energy and intelligence of human existence – does your “treatment” release human potential, or does it impose your belief of what angle a cervical curve should be?
10) Increased understanding of the emotional component of subluxation – how emotions contributes to subluxation – how subluxation impacts on the emotional component of the nervous system – and most DCs see bigger changes in patients emotional states when they use TRT.
11) Totally congruent with WELLNESS practice – many DCs say they are wellness DCs, but basically have a practice full of people who come for regular check-ups – a wellness practice can only be measured by improved state of wellbeing in the clients, not by how often someone gets adjusted – TRT DCs find that their practice members go through major shifts in their state of wellbeing.
12) The level of satisfaction with the Integrator is much higher than with most other instruments – most DCs use their instrument as an alternative to manual adjusting – when all else fails or when they feel it is not safe to adjust manually. The opposite happens when DCs use Integrators – they are usually shocked to find that they actually get better changes and feel their adjustments “hold” better when using an Integrator. And those recurring subluxations that used to be back again every visit suddenly seem to clear and no longer recur.
13) They discover a massive demographic of new patients who would never see a “bone cruncher” but love the low-force approach – Like it or not – the manual adjustment has been the vehicle with which most DCs have produced great health changes in their customers. But at the same time the manual adjustment suffers from a very poor public relations history: From comedy shows, to fanatical and very vocal cynics, to a large segment of the general populace – there is a huge number of people who question “cracking backs” as being of little therapeutic value, and of much unnecessary risk. When you use a low-force adjusting approach – you enter a new game – and you find a whole new marketplace.
14) Enjoyment, fulfilment, passion and excitement seem to happen in DCs lives. It amazes me how many DCs are actually struggling in practice emotionally – and are in a state of disappointment, boredom or burnout. We get so many phone calls and emails a few months after a TRT program with amazing stories of renewed practices, revived enthusiasm, and unexpected but well-deserved rewards…
Sunday, January 27, 2008
YOUR ATTITUDE IS CONTAGIOUS!
The number and type of clients you see and draw to your practice are a SYMPTOM of your own attitude towards chiropractic!
1) If your attitude is that chiropractic is great for the relief of any number of aches and pains - then you will have a pain relief and crisis care practice.
You could have a huge practice, with people seeing you for a bunch of visits in a relatively short space of time. People will be convinced and even impressed by your level of professionalism, equipment and affluent appearance. But here's the question: How many families are you seeing, how many of your clients have been seeing you for 5 and even 10 years, how dependent are you on the next bunch of new patients to refill the appointment book and balance sheet?
3) If your attitude is that regular chiropractic helps to prevent spinal problems from progressing to be serious, acute and painful - then you will have a maintenance practice.
How quickly do your patients get to four to six week intervals in their care? Often they get to monthly visits and you haven't even reassessed them. A couple of times a week for a couple of weeks, then once a week for a couple more weeks, and then before you know what's happened they are booked in, in 4-6 weeks. They may be out of pain, and they may have experienced some initial health improvements, but have YOU really made any signifiant physiological and functional changes to their global state of wellbeing? Will they live longer and better as a result of an adjustment every 30-60 days, while in between they undo all your good work?
4) If your attitude is that chiropractic is an integral part of a person's health program, having an effect on their nervous system and releasing the work of the body’s innate intelligence - then you will have a broad scope health and wellness practice.
Their symptoms, state of disease, financial position are even totally irrelevant to your belief that a regular adjustment will do them good... It's this simple - PEOPLE WHO GET ADJUSTED DO BETTER! And they usually feel and function better too. But you don't take responsibility for your practice members' state of health - You didn't get them into the state they are currently in, and you can but assist them and even coach them towards a more optimal lifestyle... You understand that each adjustment is a positive healing step forwards, and you utilise all your clinical and technical skills to determine how many steps they take backwards in between adjustments to determine the optimal schedule for their care. And this attitude is contagious, because the type of new patient that appears at your door seems to intuitively understand this philosophy, and they seem to be surrounded by a family and peer group that wants to join them at your rooms on a regular basis.
1) If your attitude is that chiropractic is great for the relief of any number of aches and pains - then you will have a pain relief and crisis care practice.
No matter how many visits you try to extract from your customers, they will tend to use you only for the relief of aches and pains - you may have a PVA of 20, but this will be 20 visits of crisis care. And because you will see primarily pain relief occurring, you will justify your attitude. In other words, you will either not initiate larger state of wellbeing and general health changes, or even if they are occurring you will be oblivious; because you won't even ask the questions that might detect that something else is going on. And your patient's won't think to mention any other changes that are happening in their lives, because you are the "Back Doctor", and the other stuff has nothing to do with you.
2) If your attitude is that chiropractic is good for fixing back problems, or straightening abnormal spinal angles - then you will have a corrective care practice.You could have a huge practice, with people seeing you for a bunch of visits in a relatively short space of time. People will be convinced and even impressed by your level of professionalism, equipment and affluent appearance. But here's the question: How many families are you seeing, how many of your clients have been seeing you for 5 and even 10 years, how dependent are you on the next bunch of new patients to refill the appointment book and balance sheet?
3) If your attitude is that regular chiropractic helps to prevent spinal problems from progressing to be serious, acute and painful - then you will have a maintenance practice.
How quickly do your patients get to four to six week intervals in their care? Often they get to monthly visits and you haven't even reassessed them. A couple of times a week for a couple of weeks, then once a week for a couple more weeks, and then before you know what's happened they are booked in, in 4-6 weeks. They may be out of pain, and they may have experienced some initial health improvements, but have YOU really made any signifiant physiological and functional changes to their global state of wellbeing? Will they live longer and better as a result of an adjustment every 30-60 days, while in between they undo all your good work?
4) If your attitude is that chiropractic is an integral part of a person's health program, having an effect on their nervous system and releasing the work of the body’s innate intelligence - then you will have a broad scope health and wellness practice.
Their symptoms, state of disease, financial position are even totally irrelevant to your belief that a regular adjustment will do them good... It's this simple - PEOPLE WHO GET ADJUSTED DO BETTER! And they usually feel and function better too. But you don't take responsibility for your practice members' state of health - You didn't get them into the state they are currently in, and you can but assist them and even coach them towards a more optimal lifestyle... You understand that each adjustment is a positive healing step forwards, and you utilise all your clinical and technical skills to determine how many steps they take backwards in between adjustments to determine the optimal schedule for their care. And this attitude is contagious, because the type of new patient that appears at your door seems to intuitively understand this philosophy, and they seem to be surrounded by a family and peer group that wants to join them at your rooms on a regular basis.
Monday, January 21, 2008
THE IDEAL PATIENT
In order to go through the step by step process of building your dream practice, it is necessary to start at the beginning: That is; WHOM DO YOU WANT TO SERVE?
There are three main reasons why you need to define your "ideal patient".
1) To make you aware of the people presently using your services, that you enjoy serving. By identifying who they are you can better understand how to best serve, reward and encourage these people.
2) So that you know how to attract these people to your practice by better understanding their needs and values.
3) To help you determine what systems and procedures you need to put in place to help the rest of your patients to grow into being an 'ideal patient'.
DESIGNING THE IDEAL PATIENT:
Think of the patients you presently enjoy serving in the practice; the ones you look forward to seeing and when you see their name on the appointment book it brings a smile to your face. Why do you like them?
Some of the characteristics we might need to consider include: Age, gender, occupation, socioeconomic group, culture, health status, attitude, sense of humor, marriage status, hobbies, interests, values, understanding of health care and chiropractic, with or without kids, appearance etc...
AN EXAMPLE: MY 'IDEAL PATIENT':
There are three main reasons why you need to define your "ideal patient".
1) To make you aware of the people presently using your services, that you enjoy serving. By identifying who they are you can better understand how to best serve, reward and encourage these people.
2) So that you know how to attract these people to your practice by better understanding their needs and values.
3) To help you determine what systems and procedures you need to put in place to help the rest of your patients to grow into being an 'ideal patient'.
DESIGNING THE IDEAL PATIENT:
Think of the patients you presently enjoy serving in the practice; the ones you look forward to seeing and when you see their name on the appointment book it brings a smile to your face. Why do you like them?
Some of the characteristics we might need to consider include: Age, gender, occupation, socioeconomic group, culture, health status, attitude, sense of humor, marriage status, hobbies, interests, values, understanding of health care and chiropractic, with or without kids, appearance etc...
AN EXAMPLE: MY 'IDEAL PATIENT':
- Communicative.
- Obedient.
- Positive attitude and outlook.
- Inquisitive.
- Health conscious.
- Believe in chiropractic.
- Value chiropractic care.
- Honest.
- Any age, gender, culture etc.
- Families.
- Pays for care.
- Refers others.
- Gives recognition for the care they receive.
- Smile!
- Doers.
- Reliable.
- Enthusiastic.
- Responsible.
Sit down with your TEAM and brainstorm the different attributes of your practice's 'ideal patient' and come up with your own description...
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
THE ROLE OF CHIROPRACTIC IN TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY
A Case Study
A 55 year old female patient presented to the office with a history of two automobile accidents which had both caused a number of physical symptoms including whiplash, loss of range of motion in her right arm, SI joint pain, shoulder pain, hand pain, parasthesias in the upper and lower extremities, and loss of balance. Complicating the healing process was the onset of depression and suicide attempt after the death of her husband, six years after the second automobile accident.
Torque Release Technique protocols were used to evaluate and adjust spinal subluxations as it provides a low force adjustment. Adjustments were performed twice weekly over the documented seven months of care. Within one month of care, the patient noted a decrease in symptoms and an improvement in her quality of life. Periodic re-evaluations demonstrated an improvement in physical findings as well as improvement in the function of her autonomic and motor systems as documented by thermal and SEMG scanning.
The results of this case study indicate that patients with traumatic brain injury may benefit from including chiropractic care while healing from their physical and emotional stresses.
Click Here To Read The Abstract At The Journal Of Vertebral Subuxation Research...
A 55 year old female patient presented to the office with a history of two automobile accidents which had both caused a number of physical symptoms including whiplash, loss of range of motion in her right arm, SI joint pain, shoulder pain, hand pain, parasthesias in the upper and lower extremities, and loss of balance. Complicating the healing process was the onset of depression and suicide attempt after the death of her husband, six years after the second automobile accident.
Torque Release Technique protocols were used to evaluate and adjust spinal subluxations as it provides a low force adjustment. Adjustments were performed twice weekly over the documented seven months of care. Within one month of care, the patient noted a decrease in symptoms and an improvement in her quality of life. Periodic re-evaluations demonstrated an improvement in physical findings as well as improvement in the function of her autonomic and motor systems as documented by thermal and SEMG scanning.
The results of this case study indicate that patients with traumatic brain injury may benefit from including chiropractic care while healing from their physical and emotional stresses.
Click Here To Read The Abstract At The Journal Of Vertebral Subuxation Research...
THE SAFETY OF CHIROPRACTIC MANIPULATION OF THE NECK
There have been attempts by some chiropractic skeptics and some so-called expert advisory panels that suggest that chiropractic adjustment of the neck carries some unacceptable risks. These all fail to quote legitimate research. So here's some real research to clarify the risks...
The objective of this study was to estimate the risk of serious and relatively minor adverse events following chiropractic manipulation of the cervical spine...
They studied treatment outcomes obtained from 19,722 patients. Serious adverse events were defined as "referred to Hospital Accident and Emergency and/or severe onset/worsening of symptoms immediately after treatment and/or resulted in persistent or significant disability/incapacity"; and minor adverse events were defined as a “worsening of presenting symptoms or onset of new symptoms”.
Data were obtained from 28,807 treatment consultations and 50,276 cervical spine manipulations.
There were no reports of serious adverse events...
Minor side effects with a possible neurologic involvement were more common. The highest risk immediately after treatment was fainting, dizziness or light-headedness. Up to 7 days after treatment, these risks were headache, numbness/tingling in upper limbs and fainting/dizziness/light-headedness.
Click Here To Read The Research Abstract At Spine Journal...
The objective of this study was to estimate the risk of serious and relatively minor adverse events following chiropractic manipulation of the cervical spine...
They studied treatment outcomes obtained from 19,722 patients. Serious adverse events were defined as "referred to Hospital Accident and Emergency and/or severe onset/worsening of symptoms immediately after treatment and/or resulted in persistent or significant disability/incapacity"; and minor adverse events were defined as a “worsening of presenting symptoms or onset of new symptoms”.
Data were obtained from 28,807 treatment consultations and 50,276 cervical spine manipulations.
There were no reports of serious adverse events...
Minor side effects with a possible neurologic involvement were more common. The highest risk immediately after treatment was fainting, dizziness or light-headedness. Up to 7 days after treatment, these risks were headache, numbness/tingling in upper limbs and fainting/dizziness/light-headedness.
Click Here To Read The Research Abstract At Spine Journal...
Monday, November 26, 2007
Practice Tip - INCREASE COMPLIANCE WITH EXERCISE PRESCRIPTION
Perceived indifference is the number one reason for patient drop out - AND - the number one need of each of your client's is the perception that you have heard and understood their biggest concerns. A major shift in consumer power is the demand for self-help advice. While most MDs THINK that their patients come to them for a prescription; and most DCs THINK that their new patients have come to get their backs cracked; One of the first questions in your patient's mind/s is "what can I do to help myself?"
I still remember one particular new patient who consulted me. He was wanting help with his chronic recurrent Low Back condition and had already seen his MD for an "expert" opinion. The GP had given him a sheet full of exercises as his prescription. This sheet had actually convinced the man that he was in the wrong place! You see, the copyright symbol at the bottom of the page was 1965! The guy said to me - "if that's how up to date the MDs are then I figured I needed to find another profession".
A lot of chiropractic treatment programs are very "front-ended" - That is the new practice member gets a lot of attention and information in the first 1-2 weeks of care: And then they become part of the daily schedule - Arrive, wait, guided into the adjusting room, face down, adjustment, "powers-on, see you next visit", pay and make an appointment, leave. And as each visit passes they develop a growing dis-ease that they might just be a number.
Here's one technique to help your practice members feel like you continue to see them as individual, important and cared for: It's called drip-feeding. People respond and comply much more effectively to your educational inputs when they are in small bite-size chunks, instead of a huge plate full of stew that exceeds the appetite. You can apply this to any aspect of your ongoing systems and procedures but let's use the example of exercise prescription:
Many DCs have given up on prescribing exercises because of perceived poor compliance and persistence. The primary cause of this poor outcome is the way in which the exercises are taught, delivered and reviewed. Instead try these guidelines...
1) Only teach 1 and never more than 2 exercises at any one visit.
2) Demonstrate the exercise by assisting the person to perform the exercise there and then - it's fine to give a sheet but these are just visual reminders - NEVER expect a client to perform an exercise from a still picture without demonstration, and DVDs will rarely make it into the player more than once.
3) Let them know that you will be teaching them another exercise next week, and that you will be reviewing their progress.
4) When you teach them the next exercise, get them to quickly show you how they are doing the last one you taught them.
This process should only add 1-2 minutes to that consult if you do it effectively - if this is too long, this can be delegated to a tech CA who you should have assisting you if you are seeing high volume anyway.
This process achieves a number of things - implementation because they will remember the exercise, compliance because they know you will be checking on them, persistence because they have been made accountable.
When we teach the Super Posture program I show a set of 12 simple exercises which are very effective for improving postural habits, and can also be used to improve response to your adjustments. Click Here To Learn More About Super Posture...
Now the challenge for you is to review the information that you currently bombard your new patients with, and take some time to trim it down into smaller bite size pieces, to mix into your drip-feeding recipe...
I still remember one particular new patient who consulted me. He was wanting help with his chronic recurrent Low Back condition and had already seen his MD for an "expert" opinion. The GP had given him a sheet full of exercises as his prescription. This sheet had actually convinced the man that he was in the wrong place! You see, the copyright symbol at the bottom of the page was 1965! The guy said to me - "if that's how up to date the MDs are then I figured I needed to find another profession".
A lot of chiropractic treatment programs are very "front-ended" - That is the new practice member gets a lot of attention and information in the first 1-2 weeks of care: And then they become part of the daily schedule - Arrive, wait, guided into the adjusting room, face down, adjustment, "powers-on, see you next visit", pay and make an appointment, leave. And as each visit passes they develop a growing dis-ease that they might just be a number.
Here's one technique to help your practice members feel like you continue to see them as individual, important and cared for: It's called drip-feeding. People respond and comply much more effectively to your educational inputs when they are in small bite-size chunks, instead of a huge plate full of stew that exceeds the appetite. You can apply this to any aspect of your ongoing systems and procedures but let's use the example of exercise prescription:
Many DCs have given up on prescribing exercises because of perceived poor compliance and persistence. The primary cause of this poor outcome is the way in which the exercises are taught, delivered and reviewed. Instead try these guidelines...
1) Only teach 1 and never more than 2 exercises at any one visit.
2) Demonstrate the exercise by assisting the person to perform the exercise there and then - it's fine to give a sheet but these are just visual reminders - NEVER expect a client to perform an exercise from a still picture without demonstration, and DVDs will rarely make it into the player more than once.
3) Let them know that you will be teaching them another exercise next week, and that you will be reviewing their progress.
4) When you teach them the next exercise, get them to quickly show you how they are doing the last one you taught them.
This process should only add 1-2 minutes to that consult if you do it effectively - if this is too long, this can be delegated to a tech CA who you should have assisting you if you are seeing high volume anyway.
This process achieves a number of things - implementation because they will remember the exercise, compliance because they know you will be checking on them, persistence because they have been made accountable.
When we teach the Super Posture program I show a set of 12 simple exercises which are very effective for improving postural habits, and can also be used to improve response to your adjustments. Click Here To Learn More About Super Posture...
Now the challenge for you is to review the information that you currently bombard your new patients with, and take some time to trim it down into smaller bite size pieces, to mix into your drip-feeding recipe...
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