Are you “Certain” about how you are practicing or why you are practicing? What would your ideal practice be like? Your practice destiny will be determined by the level of certainty vs. doubt you have. Certainty comes from conviction. Conviction is your most stable belief. Beliefs are shaped by your philosophy. Philosophy is the principles or laws of a field of knowledge that govern the way you act. So, our actions determine our direction, our results and our destiny. The key is our actions are ultimately preceded by our philosophy. This then becomes the pivotal point that begins the road to our destiny and the explanation to the chiropractic dichotomy.

Chiropractors today practice one of two philosophies and therefore have divided beliefs, different identities, different focuses, different actions, get different results, and have different destinies.

One philosophy is to use manipulation for musculoskeletal symptom relief. The other philosophy is more traditional and corrects subluxations through adjustments to maximize nerve integrity and optimize body function and health. In addition to manipulation to decompress joints, free fixations and reduce pain, the musculoskeletal D.C. utilizes various types of physiotherapies and has now elected to expand their “scope of practice” by the use of drugs.

This has occurred because of doubt in the traditional philosophy or chiropractic. The main reason for this doubt is a lack of understanding of the philosophy or a disbelief in it. Many chiropractors did not buy the early concepts of “one cause one cure” and realized there were other causes and treatments for disease. Others found the metaphysics of chiropractic philosophy contrary to their spiritual beliefs. So to try and find some midline theme of unity, chiropractors “threw the baby out with the baby water” and shifted it’s philosophy to a more even keel, non-esoteric, musculoskeletal theme that could and would be more “socially” and ‘medically” acceptable. With traditional insurance parity and consultants on the scene, chiropractors were able to learn the different codes, justify the use of the various “adjuncts” they used in practice and get paid quite handsomely. Practices flourished, chiropractors drifted further from their traditional philosophy and became more dependent on insurance companies. As insurance companies caught on they began to cost contain. This drove doctor’s prices up and forced chiropractors to focus more heavily on how to “fit in” to the narrowing insurance boundaries.

As managed care continues to emerge, and chiropractors have drifted further from their traditional philosophy they are caught in a web of doubt that depends on insurance for practice survival, becoming pawns in its paperwork shuffle. To add insult to injury, medical counterparts have added “manipulation” to their treatment regimen of low back pain, taking that uniqueness from musculoskeletal D.C.’s and leaving the patient with less value for chiropractic.

The key is to reposition chiropractic philosophy so people can and will value it, make it a priority and pay for it regardless of insurance reimbursement. When you have done that, your practice will be at a level of certainty in its direction and its destiny.

Start out by getting people to understand what is essential for life and health and how chiropractic fits in. An essential would be defined as something you need for life. If it stops, so do you, but if it’s not at its optimum, neither is your health potential. Most people will know three essentials, food, water, and oxygen. So, their actions are directed towards things to maximize the potential of these essentials and minimize interference to them. People are aware that by eating right and exercising their health potential improves. But, what about the fourth essential? If people knew one existed they would surely take actions to improve and maintain its potential, too. The problem is they are not aware of it. IT is called nerve impulse. Nerve impulse is the most commonly overlooked essential for life and health. Nerve impulse is an electrochemical charge transmitted by the brain through the nervous system to the body. It is the life force that keeps us alive and “charged”. All body function is dependent on this life force or brain impulse.

One of the major causes of nerve interference is a misalignment of the spine commonly termed by chiropractors as a subluxation. Subluxations can interfere with the nerve, the spinal cord and reflex nerve pathways resulting in abnormal function and a lower health potential. If your spine is subluxated you cannot be at your optimum health potential regardless of how good your food, water, and oxygen is, because you are still interfering with one of the essential of life and health. Explain to people that the chiropractor’s primary role is to locate and correct subluxations, thus removing nerve interference and allowing the body to restore its normal function. It is not a treatment for symptoms or a cure for disease, but merely a way of improving the body’s optimum health potential, through proper nerve integrity. This is why everyone should see a chiropractor from the time they are born, and regularly throughout their lifetime.

This important fundamental principle is the first step to positioning patients to a philosophy that is more valuable to their total health potential than mere pain relief. Remember philosophy is “the principles or laws of a field of knowledge that governs the way you act.”

To achieve certainty in your practice you have to be certain about your philosophy. Is chiropractic a back pain profession or is it a profession that influences body function through nerve integrity by adjustments to the spine? Well, according to Dr. R.F. Gorman, an opthomologist from Sydney, Australia, who studied the affects of spinal manipulation initially for migraines, but noticed profound improvements with mental, visual and auditory problems, “the art of chiropractic (medicine) is not in the procedure, but in the ability to contemplate the philosophy…where the chiropractor stands alone in it’s claim that it is possible to change the function of the rest of the body by manipulation of the spine.” He also stated, “It is not surprising that chiropractic manipulation lifts depression. IT is possible that chiropractic maneuvers will become and important tool in psychiatric treatment.” What about German cardiologist, W. Kunert, M.D., in his paper, “Functional Disorders of Internal Organs Due to Vertebral Lesions” when he stated, “lesions of the spinal column are perfectly capable of simulating, accentuation, or making a major contribution to (organic) disorders. There can in fact, be no doubt that the state of the spinal column does have a bearing on the functional status of the internal organs.” M.D.’s continue to confirm the traditional functional philosophy of chiropractic. Consider M.D.’s all over the world like Lewit, Abrahamovic, Rychlikova, Biedermann, Pikalov, Vyatcheslav, Gutzeit, Ussher, Rydevik, et al. M.D.’s and many others have studied the relationship of functional disorders like tachycardia, myocardial damage, ulcers, gal bladder disease, uretal colic, tonsillitis, asthma, glomenlonephritis, et al and their relationship to the spine with convincing results. With such evidence mounting to support chiropractic’s functional philosophy there is no need to merely isolate back pain as chiropractic’s only merit and rebuild this great profession on such a limited philosophy. Instead we need to expand our direction, research and public explanations with certainty towards our traditional philosophy where we can influence body function and health potential by improving nerve integrity through adjustments to the spine. To start this road to “certainty” practice we need to reposition our consciousness and our explanation about chiropractic. We need to stop positioning chiropractic as an “alternative treatment for conditions,” or as a specialty. This positioning implies chiropractic is only for specific individuals with specific conditions. On the other hand, if you position chiropractic as all a person needs for their health care of a “cure all” it implies nothing else is needed which is not true, nor believable by the consumer.

It is important to position chiropractic for spinal maintenance for everyone. Everyone should maintain their spine from birth for maximum nerve integrity and optimum health potential. Consider this fundamental law. If something requires maintenance and is neglected, it will develop a problem. The problem develops silently until a threshold is met and then crisis results. This is a fundamental law that applies to everything from marriage, relationships and diet to automobiles, lawnmowers and VCRs.