When Doctors Are Hurting

by William D. Esteb

One of the most surprising things I do, and the one thing that is most tragic among my regular activities, is fielding telephone calls from chiropractors who are suffering the quiet and painful death of an unsuccessful practice. Sometimes these phone calls start as a product implementation question and other times no effort is made to hide the breathy panic of impending failure. Like the death grip of someone drowning that interferes with the rescuer's attempt to save them, these doctors are clinging to the floating debris that once was their practices. The creditors are becoming increasingly insistent. The spouse's pleas to maintain their standard of living have become shriller. And patients aren't showing up like they used to. "Do something, dear!"

What many forget is that at one time world famous evangelist Billy Graham's ministry was failing. He wasn't always able to attract stadium-sized crowds wherever he went! In the early years the turnout was pathetic. Humbled by his lack of success, yet burning with desire, he sought the advice of another wise and successful minister. "The problem Billy, is that you don't accept every word in the Bible on total faith as the inspired word of God. You must resolve this issue before your words will have the conviction to move others."

Many chiropractors who are floundering, just getting by, or on the ropes waiting to be put out of their misery, lack conviction. Their chiropractic is a small chiropractic. Their chiropractic is a chiropractic with reservations, apologies, excuses, and maybes. Their chiropractic is so small that patients can't see it, much less believe in it, or benefit from its application. The fear that makes their chiropractic small makes chiropractic unattractive to patients.

Either you accept the chiropractic principle lock, stock, and barrel, or you have placed yourself in the position of being the mediator, the filter, the judge and jury in matters of healing. It is from this vantage point that often prompts chiropractors to take the credit when the patient shows improvement. Patients don't seem to mind giving this adoration. But it's a trap. Because taking credit also requires that you accept the blame when your application of chiropractic doesn't produce the outcomes you and the patient desire. This, of course, is the problem.

It starts when you accept the social role of being a doctor. To spend your days in the midst of people who have sought you out for relief and healing after having first given up on the medical establishment, can be heady stuff. In fact, even if your practice is failing, the admiration and respect you get from your family at home pales in comparison with what you often experience at the office. At home you're just the breadwinner. At the office some patients consider you almost a deity.

Few chiropractors (except the really busy ones) have the self-control or presence of mind to deflect these anointings from their patients, and instead are tempted to bathe in the outpouring of appreciation and gratitude. And no wonder. If the financial rewards of practice are going to be meager, at least enjoy the occasional emotional rewards that present themselves!

But even these intangible rewards can be fleeting. What with the limitations of matter, unhealthy diets, emotional worries, polluted work environments, and all the other factors beyond your control outside your office, some patients don't see the improvement you think they deserve. So the patient is called in for questioning. Have you been doing this? Have you been remembering to do that? Are you doing what I told you? Have you stopped you-know-what? Have you regularly started doing X? Have you stopped doing Y?

Whether patients sabotage your idea of chiropractic or not, there are occasions when the chiropractic principle doesn't appear to work. This produces a debilitating, confidence-shaking situation for the chiropractor. Doubt is injected into the equation. With enough doubt, even the patient can detect it and their recovery stalls. Or a whole new health compliant comes to light. This isn't what you had in mind!

The double-blind clinical trials said it should work. The writers in the referred journals said it should work. It worked before. What do I tell the patient? What if they give up on me and chiropractic? What if they tell others in the reception room? What if they tell their friends and I become a laughing stock? What if no one wants to come here anymore?

Like Billy Graham, this is a faith issue. Those seduced by science or burdened with an analytical approach to life may find this difficult to accept. Do you have faith in the principle or only on what your five senses can detect? Does faith even have a place in the healing environment of a chiropractic office?

In the same way that bad things can beset those who have great religious faith and conviction, there will be times when even the most conscientious application of chiropractic principles can appear not to work. These events seem to happen at the most inopportune times--either out of the blue when you're feeling cocky and personally responsible for your patient's satisfaction, or when you're in the dumps, questioning your career choice. There is a common theme regardless of the extreme: you.

Do you see yourself as an instrument or the music it makes?

Do you see yourself as the ignition key or the powerful engine it can start?

Most of the problems that chiropractors face are not chiropractic problems. The chiropractic principle works today in the same way it has for over a century. The fact that you may not have the opportunity to apply the chiropractic principle as often and with as many patients as you would like, is not a chiropractic problem. It may be a discipline problem, a vision problem, a self-perception problem, a self-control problem, a communication problem, a leadership problem, or a courage problem, but it is not a chiropractic problem. That's good news! The career you've chosen can be trusted. But something in you or your application of it may be shortchanging the outcome you have been expecting.

When results aren't produced on your schedule, to your degree of satisfaction, to your specifications, to fulfill your need for ego gratification--stop. Remember that you're merely a facilitator; a note in the symphony. You're merely a tool; not the designing architect. You're the conduit, not the current. Get yourself and your ego out of the way and allow true miracles to happen!

Excerpted from
Looking Up
Originally published in 1998
240 Pages
US $24.95

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