Chiropractic physicians serve as primary doctors within the present health care system. As a portal entry contact for health care consumers, chiropractors have the responsibility of evaluating the consumer's state of health, diagnosing health problems, and promoting well-being.
Promoting well-being of the health consumer includes those specific interventions that the chiropractic physician is trained to administer, as well as a recognition of when to refer the consumer to an appropriate specialist, either within the chiropractic profession or outside of it.
The doctor of chiropractic, as counselor to patients on a daily basis, addresses such issues as unhealthy lifestyles: smoking, substance abuse, lack of exercise, ergonomic problems, stress, and poor nutrition. By counseling the chiropractic patients to practice safe and healthy habits, they are able to improve the quality of their life and ultimately lower the cost of health care. Unnecessary pain and suffering can be avoided by adopting a preventive attitude as promoted by the chiropractic physician. This role as counselor should not be minimized by the chiropractic practitioner.
Jamison (1991) has noted: "The concept of optional health fitness is suited to a chiropractic practice. This concept implies active pursuit of a state of optimal health. Optimal health is viewed as a state in which there is a low risk of disease, a high quality of life, even with the onset of aging. Optimal health is the maximization of an individual's genetic potential given their life situation. In contemporary health care, optimal health also implies increased emphasis on the relationship between lifestyle and disease; it depends on increased personal responsibility in health care.
"The clinician's contribution to client health promotion includes enhancing client awareness of health and the various lifestyle options that impinge on this state. In creating patient awareness of health as a positive attribute that may be actively pursued, it may be useful to emphasize that optimal health is a particular individual's best health deal. Not only is optimal health unique for every individual, it is also subject to constant redefinition for each individual. Chiropractic physicians can help patients choose, implement, and monitor a self-constructed program for health and improvement."
Counseling patients is not just giving them professional advice. Doctors of chiropractic are not professional counselors per se, but paraprofessional counselors, unless of course they specialize in mental health. Professional paracounselors include, in addition to chiropractors, consultants, dentists, medical physicians, lawyers, ministers, priests, nurses, teachers, and countless others. At the present time, the profession has not instituted a chiropractic mental health specialist or chiropractic psychiatrist or counselor. Still there are DCs who specialize in mental health and the specific role of a chiropractic mental health counselor deserves our attention as well. In any event, chiropractors can be highly skilled at helping patients assume greater responsibility for themselves, even as a paraprofessional counselors.
What can we do to help our patients? That is a fundamental question that is at the core of all helping professions and one that professional counselors ask all the time. The chiropractor as a paraprofessional counselor needs to be honest and hold reasonable expectations about what they are able to do in their counseling.
Counseling for the chiropractor will fall into several categories. They are as follows:
Health style counseling has already touched on and includes counseling the patient regarding nutrition, substance abuse, sleep, and could include such topics as dental hygiene, AIDS, personal fitness, weight control, and stress, as well as other important lifestyle subjects.
Problem oriented counseling can include a vast array of subjects ranging from marital strife, learning disabilities, legal questions (such as "What should I do about this personal injury?" or "Should I see a lawyer?"), and emotional disturbance. For example, patients may be angry, depressed or anxious over their pain or inability to perform their work, or engage sexually with their mate.
Patients who experience prolonged or chronic pain may become depressed and irritable, or medicate themselves to the point of decreasing their social and physical activity. In addition, they may experience a lowered pain threshold, may have problems sleeping, and may generally experience a reduction in the quality of life. Thus, there may be a combination of problems in which the doctor of chiropractic must engage. For example, a welder with low back pain may be depressed because he can't sexually perform and start drinking alcohol to kill the pain. A marital problem may develop because his wife is angry with him for not being able to return to work or take care of the problems around the house.
Many patients turn to their treating chiropractor for solutions and refuse to seek professional counseling or psychotherapy. In some instances the patient can not afford to go to a marital therapist or psychotherapist in conjunction with seeing the chiropractor.
The chiropractor as a paraprofessional counselor can help such patients to see themselves in a better perspective and move closer to self-responsibility.
For more information on the American Council on Mental Health, readers are encouraged to write to:
Martin J. Brown, D.C.
11474 E. 15 Mile Road
Sterling Heights, Michigan 48077
Reference:
Jamison JR: Health Promotion for Chiropractic Practice. Gaithersbury, Aspen Publishers, Inc., 1991.
Edward C. Sullivan, M.A., D.C.
Vice president,
American Council on Mental Health of the
American Chiropractic Association
Mt. Vernon, Washington
When sports chiropractors first appeared at the Olympic Games in the 1980s, it was alongside individual athletes who had experienced the benefits of chiropractic care in their training and recovery processes at home. Fast forward to Paris 2024, where chiropractic care was available in the polyclinic for all athletes, and the attitude has now evolved to recognize that “every athlete deserves access to sports chiropractic."
It is estimated that 61% of patients with CTS avoid taking surgical options due to postoperative complications and costly surgical procedures. Chiropractic care offers a comprehensive and effective treatment for carpal tunnel syndrome, addressing the condition from multiple angles. Recent studies also have unveiled a game-changing adjunct to chiropractic treatments for CTS: nerve flossing.
Some doctors thrive in a personality-based clinic and have a loyal following no matter what services or equipment they offer, but for most chiropractic offices who are trying to grow and expand, new equipment purchases help us stay relevant and continue to service our client base in the best, most up-to-date manner possible. So, regarding equipment purchasing: should you lease, get a bank loan, or pay cash?
