Trends 2024

Recovery / Prevention

The #1 and #2 trends, in that order, are recovery and prevention. People are either trying to recover from something structural or functional (sports injury, past physical or mental trauma, etc.) or they want to prevent something (cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, dementia, etc.). Having a clear message of what you help people recover from and/or prevent will help your practice grow into the future.

Specializing

Being a specialist within health care continues to trend. Popular specialists include acute-care relief, neurology, sports injury, regenerative medicine (PRP, stem cells, especially to the extremities), chronic pain relief, pediatrics, or condition relief (headaches, neuropathy, disc conditions, etc.). Some promote performance enhancement, weight loss, cardiovascular and stroke prevention, dementia and Alzheimer prevention, and disease avoidance.

DCs who are defining themselves as specialists, e.g., functional medicine, posture, neuro-brain enhancement, sports, and rehabilitation, will continue to do very well.

Longevity / Biohacking

To me, optimizing longevity means extending middle age, along with hopes for a better tomorrow in body, mind and spirit. Many people are looking for self-care guidance and are willing to take more control of the way they look, feel, and move so biohacking is trending right up there with longevity.

Biohacking starts with empowering individuals to take ownership of their own well-being and happiness. Leading-edge doctors help people sort through misinformation and make better personalized choices in diet, sleep, exercise, breath work, balancing out the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems, etc., to establish new health habits.

Tracking Technology

Continuing to trend year after year is wearable technology and other tracking technology. There has never been more information available than right now (but there also has never been more wrong information available than right now). Tracking is useful, and there is a tremendous amount of new and modern technology (wearable devices) for overriding health habits!

Don’t throw out old mechanisms of simple tracking, however. I still recommend waking up and taking morning temperature for better thyroid understanding, simple urine pH test strips for acid/alkaline balance, counting grams of protein or fiber per day, etc.

The idea of being a wholistic practitioner using wearable devices to turn off patients’ autopilot and get them to become more aware of what is going on internally, discovering what works, and what doesn’t work, is my favorite part of my job. When I help people stop engaging in energy-depleting behaviors (physical, mental, emotional, etc.) and begin to focus on energy preservation and rebuilding health, I am empowering people to initiate lifestyle enhancements. That’s the trend!

Remote health care consults and monitoring are continuing but may not be trending. The pandemic fostered this movement and it remains a specialty, especially for functional medicine practitioners and is often condition dependent (mental health, nutrition, specific diagnosis, etc.). However, remote health monitoring devices have become increasingly important for individuals and health care providers to track and manage various health conditions from a distance. These are top devices and technologies:

• Wearable Fitness Trackers: Fitbit, Apple Watch, Oura ring, Whoop, and Garmin. They can help you and the patient monitor their overall health and fitness levels, and see which of your recommendations are working.
• Blood-Pressure Monitors: I think as a profession we can do a better job of helping patients learn to measure and track their blood pressure at home and in our offices. My office has helped dozens and dozens of patients lose weight and gain muscle that allowed their MDs to decrease or eliminate blood pressure medication.
• Glucose Monitors: Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) systems and smart glucose meters help people with diabetes monitor their blood sugar levels more effectively, provide real-time data, and can send alerts for high or low blood sugar. They also provide an education in how you react to certain foods.
• We will see a continuation of Pulse Oximeters (important for individuals with respiratory conditions like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) and portable ECG Monitors (electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG)) devices that allow users to monitor their heart's electrical activity and detect irregular rhythms.

Other tracking / testing trends include biomarkers: testing devices HR, HRV, oxygen saturation, respiration rate, pulse respiratory quotient (PRQ), sympathetic stress, and parasympathetic activity; and blood testing for cholesterol, HbA1c, NAD, hormones, etc.

Other Top Trends

Popular cities like Los Angeles, New Orleans, Nashville, and New York are seeing the number of recovery centers, IV drip shops, cryotherapy, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, and versions of what used to be called med spas on the rise, like we saw when yoga studios first became franchised.

Vendors and manufacturers are bringing to the marketplace many new devices and older therapy equipment with updated versions such as thermography, TECAR, ultrasound, vibration, shockwave, electrical stimulation, and laser. I see these as trending, as they will continue to add value to your practice. Try to remove mental frictions such as costs, maintenance, etc., to having these in your offices. Do your patients and yourself a favor by getting upgrades and help create accessibility for the new technology available. If you don’t, others will.

“Care plans” are also still trending. Some people just expect a discount or membership fee, or need a discount to purchase supplements, tests, or chiropractic visits to see the results you want to achieve.

Last, but certainly not least, you, your office staff, and your space itself can create a setting for a memorable getaway office visit. It doesn’t have to happen every visit. Start thinking about options you can offer for an unforgettable office visit.

My thing is offering my time. I’ve created a menu of short (30 minutes) or longer sessions (1-2 hours). I love helping patient discover the most important exercise circuit, the best stretch routine, a nutrition plan for weight loss or longevity, a movement pattern as part of a warmup, and a better sleep routine – all of these combined and designed for extending middle age.

Strive to become considered the leading practitioner in your area for your specialty; and the foremost expert chiropractic office known for cultivating the most efficient and delightful staff.