Going Spineless

by William D. Esteb

Imagine a chiropractic office in which there isn’t a single picture, illustration, anatomical model or X-ray depicting a human spine in plain sight. Crazy? Crazy like a fox, if you want to create more long-term patient relationships.

If you’ve made chiropractic about the bones of the spine, you’ve missed the point. No wonder patients won’t stay longer than what it takes to achieve relief. And it’s certainly no surprise that patients wouldn’t want to pay for chiropractic care beyond the coverage of a stingy insurance company. Not for bones.

This is why those who advance the importance of having a cash practice, and those who already have one, can successfully pull it off. Their chiropractic communications with patients aren’t about bones and discs. Turns out, if you’ll give up your fascination with the bones, chiropractic becomes something that appeals to a whole bunch of people who are willing to pay for it out of their own pocket.

For contrast, consider a practice focused entirely on the tibia. Their business card sports an illustration right out of Gray’s Anatomy. “Get the tibia right and all else follows.” You see tibias everywhere. Infant tibias. Adult tibias. Plastic tibias. Not to mention tibia writing pens and tibias dangling from key chains.

Ridiculous? Of course. But consider how many chiropractors elevate the covering of the spinal cord to similar heights. Good thing electricians aren’t similarly distracted—more interested in the color of the wires than the flow of electricity!

“Yes, I need an electrician to come to my home. My lights aren’t working.”

“Certainly. Before we send someone out, could you tell me the color of the wires that seem to be causing the problem?”

“Huh?”

Sure, certain wires are color-coded, but the integrity of the circuit is the key! Lose sight of that and you have an artful infrastructure—that doesn’t work.

The spineless practice acknowledges a related and equally simple truth: we live our lives through our nervous systems. Is the spinal column involved? Sure. But so is an individual’s biochemical environment, emotional reality, cardiovascular system, immune system and virtually every other system of their body. In fact, it’s this “parts” mentality that has trapped western medicine as the culture moves to a more holistic, vitalistic, quantum model of these “soul” packages of ours.

If you see the correction of malpositioned spinal bones as the purpose of chiropractic, you’ve fallen for the “first right answer.” Because while it’s true that some type of neurological disturbance logically follows postural distortions, rushing in, hell bent on “fixing” the biomechanics of the spine is egotistical, short-sighted and fraught with danger. In doing so, you overlook some key points:

The wisdom of the body produced the subluxation for a reason.

The patient has broken some physical, chemical or emotional rule.

Attempting to “right” the spine while ignoring the cause is arrogant.

Reducing the patient to a mere spine, makes you big and them small.

Attracting cash-paying families who want wellness will be unlikely.

If you want a cash practice, you can’t rely on the mechanistic mindset that has trapped you in an insurance-dependent practice. Envious of cash practices, you’ll be tempted to dissect their paperwork, procedures, policies and patient communication strategies to figure out how they pull it off. But you’ll overlook something more subtle. Practices that have abandoned the bondage of third-party reimbursement have moved their explanation of chiropractic beyond bones and posture to the second right answer of function and lifestyle.

Bones and posture make you the hero. Function and lifestyle make them and their creator the hero.

Bones and posture make practice about what patients are. Function and lifestyle make practice about what they could become.

Bones and posture make chiropractic small. Function and lifestyle make chiropractic big.

It’s your choice. Either way you can add tremendous value to a patient’s life, helping them avoid the side effects of drugs or the risks of irreversible surgery.

This is really more about you, than them. Who are you showing up as? The fixer? The straightener? The bone doctor? The nerve doctor? The coach? The facilitator? The reimbursement expert? The healer? The buddy? The servant? Who are you? What do you do? And why are you doing it?

Before you put your spinal models in a drawer or reduce the emphasis you place on your X-rays, strengthen your own spine. Get really clear about what you’re doing and why you’re doing it. Only then can you go spineless.