With few exceptions, for the past 30 years most chiropractors have been promoting chiropractic as a therapeutic approach to certain musculoskeletal problems. If you do not believe me check out your local yellow pages. We seem to have lost the old-time chiropractic fervor of “correcting the cause of all disease” or helping organic medical conditions. For chiropractors to publicly claim to help allergies, digestive disorders or other internal maladies is almost unheard of. Someone (or maybe it was just us) allowed us to paint ourselves into a little corner of treating back aches and stiff necks and now we even have to compete with the physical therapists and the rehab centers for those crumbs from the table of ill health. There are probably a number of reasons why we got to this place. A desire for acceptance by the medical community, embarrassment over no scientific studies to prove we help medical conditions, the insurance industry, even the non-therapeutic straights who have correctly stated the fact that we do not treat medical conditions or their cause have all contributed to the very limited model of chiropractic that most practitioners now practice, one definitely not consistent with what our Founder and Developer saw as chiropractic.
Now I am not suggesting that we go back to the 1920’s or 30’s promoting the “big idea” that chiropractic corrects the cause of all disease. On the contrary, I think we need to take chiropractic to the next level, what I like to call the “bigger idea.” Chiropractic is for everyone. Sure it enables your body to function better and to have a greater ability to heal itself or bring itself back to a state of health. But it also allows the body to improve upon its potentials, to perform and function at a greater level, to be all it can and should be. It is not the entire answer but it is an important part of the answer. It is time we began to tell people that. Unfortunately, most of our profession is not and will not do that. Either they do not believe it, they are satisfied with their musculoskeletal/bad-back and stiff-neck practice, or they are afraid of what people will think if they rock the health care boat a little. Well, those of us who are not afraid, those of us who see that an awful lot of people are missing out on a lot of good benefits to their life because they have no idea what we do—we need to step up and take chiropractic to the next level. The old saying is appropriate here, “If you keep doing what you have been doing, you will keep getting what you have been getting.” Want a lesser percentage of your new practice members coming in with bad backs and stiff necks? Start talking about the bigger idea in chiropractic. Don’t know how to do that? Check out some of our educational materials, particularly the brochure highlighted this month.