To help you enhance your practice and increase your bottom line, Dynamic Chiropractic PracticeINSIGHTS asks practicing DCs just like you for ideas and solutions that have been tested in real-world environments.
From your responses, we found insightful feedback and a variety of methods for adding techniques that are beneficial to many practices.
Hardware Helpers
Many of you have introduced new mechanical techniques from seminars and workshops you've attended and you're having great success incorporating them into your practice.
For example, Deann Lanahan (Ohio) said, "I attended a Neuromechanical Seminar on the Impulse adjusting instrument. I was impressed with its efficacy and protocols so I purchased one and introduced it in my office. The patients love it and I have had great clinical success with its use. It does a wonderful job on extremity issues."
Said Paula deManicor (Tennessee), "Having been a CA since 1978, I have watched the trends of chiropractics move from the ol' faithful genie rub, traction and EMS to spinal decompression, light therapy and exercise programs. Now, chiropractors are adding non-invasive cosmetic equipment such as G5 Lypossage and Ultra Contour, and diet and nutrition, to enhance their practice with more cash flow and provide any alternative to surgery, whether it be spinal or not! It seems to be working well by adding these services and thinking outside of the box."
Exercise
Another popular, and successful, addition to many practices has been the promotion of therapeutic exercise as a key part of the treatment protocol.
"I have almost every patient with low back, pelvic and/or lower extremity complaints sit on an exercise ball prior to their adjustment," said Dennis Smith (Texas). "They are given 10-15 minutes to perform a sheet of lumbopelvic ROM exercises.
"Not only am I able to bill for NMR (proprioception), but it is a great way to get the patient's pelvis loosened up prior to their adjustment. Most patients end up purchasing a ball (which we sell in our office) in order to do the exercises at home between visits because they can feel a difference almost immediately. It is a win-win situation, because while the patient feels better and sees more rapid improvement, we can bill for rehabilitation and make a profit off of the balls that we sell," Smith said.
Lary Spiller (Washington) added: "There's a whole array of rehab exercises that can be incorporated into the smallest of spaces, so it behooves all DCs to improve their bottom line by providing additional positive services that benefit the patient."
Manual Techniques
Some of you feel that updated manual techniques are the way to success in any practice. Here's how one long-time chiropractor incorporated these techniques into his practice.
"In my 38 and a half years of practice, manual muscle testing helped me to locate what otherwise would have been missed subluxations." John Tyner (Washington). "For instance, this technique helped me find a subluxated hip that was causing a migraine headache a patient was suffering. Once it was adjusted, her headache that was on the same side as the misaligned hip completely dissapated. I know of no other diagnostic technique that would have located this situation in such short order."