Like it or not, the era of unlimited insurance coverage is over, and the time of the all-knowing doctor telling the obedient patient what to do is also a thing of the past. High pressure sales techniques ( besides being of questionable ethis) may show some success in the short haul, but we are increasingly living in a society favoring doctors who empower patients with transparent, ethical and consistent business practices.
Consumer directed healthcare is a new phrase which means the customer is king, and it is unerringly pointing to the evolution of what I call Patient Choice Practices, and for chiropractors, massage therapists and posture coaches and trainers- Patient Choice Posture Practices.
In order for a post-acute patient to choose RehabCare or WellnessCare they must value the service they receive, especially if they are paying for that service out of pocket. Merely telling someone to get adjusted as a way to prevent the recurrence of problems (whether those you helped them with initially or those they have suffered in the past) will not work with consumer savvy patients living in an increasingly media drenched society.
People must “get” why it is important to see you, and posture based patient education is a key for getting patients to value chiropractic adjustments, even in the absence of symptoms.
Postural Patient Education for the Patient Choice Practice: Tip #7
Integrate Posture Principles and kinetic chain ideas into both your explanation of:
- How their problem began
- What you observed, and
- What you are going to do to help the problem.
- ALSO>>> How their ADLs affect their problem, and
- What can they do to help their problem.
Just as everyone knows the old ditty..”the footbone’s connected to the kneebone, the kneebone is connected to the thighbone,etc”, people get the logic of mechanical connections.
Kinetic chain explanations not only improve the likelihood of patients choosing rehab and wellness care designed to help them feel better and age better, but also improve the ability of patients to communicate to others WHY they see a chiropractor regularly, and why others should as well.
Sample Patient Dialogue
“Mr. Johnson, you have been suffering off and on with neck pain since that accident 5 years ago. Even though it hasn’t hurt most of the time, your posture appears to have adapted.
When I look at your Posture Picture the right shoulder is markedly high and your head is tilted to that side in compensation, and when I palpate your neck I note chronic spasm in your trapezius and levator muscles, here and here.
We work with posture in this practice. Our goal is to unlock joints which are not moving normally with chiropractic adjustments, and then teach you specific focused posture exercises to retrain your body’s patterns of motion. Especially since you work over a desk which you say has irritated your neck pain, strengthening and stretching parts of posture which have adapted is necessary to make a change.
As you feel better, we’ll show you exercises to strengthen your weak areas which you should probably continue doing even once you feel better.
Also, it may make sense to get adjusted occasionally depending on your progress and desires. We’ll talk about that after we get you feeling better.”
Later on, if you have helped the pain they walked in with, taught them postural exercises, and improved their posture consciousness, you will have earned the credibility to effectively tell patients about RehabCare and even WellnessCare.
You may even find people telling you they want to keep getting adjusted while they are still under acute care because, as a patient said to me last week, he can “tell it makes him feel and move better”.
In my experience he is far more likely to continue under care as a personal pay patient because he knows getting adjusted is good for him….and regardless of his insurance coverage, he is correct.
Steven Weiniger DC
Bodyzone LLC Managing Partner
Learn more about integrating chiropractic with posture rehab exercise
Schedule also available at: www.PosturePractice.com