For years the chiropractic profession has done its best to improve its relevance within the health care market. We've done health fairs, seminars, workshops, and countless meetings with our patients and communities. We've shared testimonials and research telling our stories and showing our data. While we may focus on different specifics, our cry has always been the same. Chiropractic is the best method to achieve true health and wellness – we should be everyone's first thought in health care.
So sad that it has taken a global pandemic for the public to start listening. But listen they have. My practice and gym are booming with people excited to attack their health as opposed to managing it with drugs or simply neglecting it. We are seeing patients and members who would have never considered a chiropractor or thought to pick up a barbell walk through our doors. Never has there been such a thirst for wellness, immunity, weight loss, performance, and anything that can reduce health risks. The health care market has been disrupted and is ready for a major overhaul.
Just Following MDs and Big Pharma?
Telemedicine and wearables have been innovations within health care for a few years now. Our smartphones have given us opportunities to track our steps and compare our activity with others. Fitness apps have emerged as essential tools that help anyone with an internet connection better understand their nutrition and hydration. And smartwatches and other wearable devices can now tell us just about everything that is going on in our body. It is truly amazing; but hardly revolutionary. None of this drastically changes how a patient reaches a great outcome or how we grow a profitable practice.
The pharmaceutical industry and medical doctors have been instrumental in driving patients toward "remote patient monitoring." And why not; it definitely has a place in general awareness of basic biomarkers. Yet the chiropractic profession should be aware of our place in the RPM line. We will come, as always, behind medical doctors and physical therapists as adopters of this new health care technology. We are yet again followers and will likely continue to manage our 10 percent of the population; that is, unless we do something different – do something first.
It's Time for Chiropractic to Be First!
If Steve Case, author of The Third Wave, is correct, the health care industry is ripe for technological adaptation. And I'm not talking about our current practice management software. I'm talking about revolutionary systems to efficiently run a practice with lower overhead and an increase in value delivered.
We need more than a simple patient management tool to extend our reach and expand our share of the healthcare market toward a 50 percent target. To do this, we must understand that five technology platforms are converging to accelerate innovation across all industries:
To be first, we need to be actively seeking or creating solutions that utilize virtual systems which act as a viable practice extension. Chiropractic must be the first member of the health care market to leverage this opportunity. If not, we will remain at the end of the line.
Why Can't We Be Powerful?
If you are age 40 or older, you understand the dramatic impact of the internet. It all started with our first email address sometime in high school. Today, we laugh at the first type of computer that made it into our home (ours was a Tandy 1000 – go look it up).
However, if you are around age 30 or younger, your experience is much different. The internet has always been a part of your life, both inside and outside of education. It's how you get your news, keep up with friends and family, do your banking, and even most of your shopping. The internet has revolutionized everything ... but it hasn't really made it into doctor-patient interactions.
Sure, a patient can have a "time for dollars" one-on-one virtual appointment. Of course, a doctor can provide a patient a link to a certain exercise, email them a bunch of fluff that is immediately deleted, or even film the patient doing a particular task to be lost somewhere in storage.
But I've yet to see a platform for chiropractors that can deliver all of these things in one patient profile. A profile that lives right on the patient's smartphone. Something that is right next to their email in-box and social media. A virtual tool that is a constant reminder to not only be active, but to be active in the specific and customizable fashion provided by their chiropractor. Now that would be powerful.
Get With the Program
I recently spoke with my neighbor, an IT professional who does setup and service for small businesses including several chiropractors. He is consistently shocked at the lack of technological advancement within all the popular practice management systems. Not only are they overly complex and clunky to manage, but they are also all built on antiquated platforms that sap efficiency.
While his complaints were many, his main wish was that chiropractors start looking for more cloud-based systems with an automatic internet backup in case of an outage. The dollars and time saved are substantial, and the convenience is beyond measure. It's time to give that old server the boot while we change anything we can to a cloud-based structure.
But it doesn't end with dollars saved and convenience created. We also must look at what a software system can do to track our efficiency. Artificial intelligence (AI) is now the rage in many industries as software systems are tracking the most efficient way to arrive at a desired outcome. We can't wait for an insurance company to tell us how to treat a particular diagnosis. On the contrary, we need to partner with software providers who are willing to utilize tools that can help us make better decisions with our patient care.
It's time for us to generate the data, show the efficiency and lead the way in delivering quality patient outcomes.
You Can Be Everywhere All the Time
Virtual reality (VR) is awesome when it comes to gaming. But it doesn't have to end there. Asynchronous doctor-patient communication, as well as video-based reminders, exercises and tutorials, can make the doctor virtual and provide 24/7 access to the patient everywhere, all the time.
Now is the time our profession truly considers making just about anything we do (besides the adjustment, of course) a virtual option to our patient. If we can be first to the market here, we can drive the population to our offices simply through the utilization of technological advancements.
"Time for dollars" models and "staff-driven" practice management consultants will soon be things of the past. Our profession needs to seriously pursue software solutions that leverage the internet, smartphones, the cloud, artificial intelligence and virtual reality – a "tech-driven" approach. If we make this shift soon, we will lead the industry for many years to come.
Author's Note: Thanks to Jim Schaeffler for his assistance in writing this article.
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?
