MESSAGE FROM DOCTOR JAY

DON’T ASK ME WHAT IS NEW!  Ask me what works!  I clearly remember these words form my long time Chiropractic mentor. He has been mentoring Chiropractors for 4 decades at the time, and had pretty much seen everything come and go.  New stuff every week, tools, equipment, seminars, etc.  His point was a good one, it’s not what is new that counts, it’s what brings results.  If something new gets results that is awesome.  However before you go spend tons of money and time on something because it is the latest and greatest, it is probably best to focus on what has proven to work in the past.  How do you predict what will probably work for you in the future?  Its simple, by what has worked in the past for others.  

My father summed this up well when saying “  It’s better to copy what works then try to create mediocrity.”  We are all guilty of this in most aspects of our lives.  We want the latest and greatest.  What you have to ask yourself is “ At what cost?”   I have found in 30 years of mentoring and observing Chiros that the best plan is a simple plan.  Focusing on the basics, and mastering them.  In short these basics are:

1-      A steady flow of new patients

2-      Low overhead

3-      Patient Education and motivation

4-      Fair fees

5-      A fun and low stress office environment

One-Day-a-Month Referral Card Day” Program

With this program one day per month is mapped out in the marketing calendar for an entire year. This day is also marked in the appointment book as a reminder on the actual “Referral Card Day”. The day chosen is to be one that is as far away as possible from other scheduled marketing programs and on a relatively busy day of the week, especially Monday. Every patient seen that day is handed two to four  “health pass” cards allowing a friend or a family member to come in as a new patient for a complimentary initial visit.(You can make it up to $25 if you wish) This eliminates a great deal of a potential new patient’s cost concerns: the financial barrier (or the perceived financial barrier) is the number one reason why potential new patients never come in and become an actual patient.

You cannot find peace by avoiding life.  Life spins with unexpected changes; so instead of avoiding it, take every change and experience as a challenge for growth.  Either it will give you what you want or it will teach you what the next step is.  And remember, finding peace in life does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, no challenges, and no hard work.  It means to be in the midst of those things while remaining calm in your heart.

Honestly, life is too short to spend at war with yourself.  The biggest disappointments in our lives are often the result of misplaced expectations.  Letting go of needless expectations is your first step to happiness. Come from a mindset of peace and acceptance, and you can deal with almost anything and grow beyond it.

MESSAGE FROM DOCTOR JAY

One of the main questions I receive from practicing Chiropractors is how they can develop a successful practice and best utilize the tools from the cyber support program to reach that goal.  Here is a cheat sheet to take you to the top!

1-      Communicate regularly with me. I am available 24/7 via e mail or phone.  What I bring to you is experience. So rather than creating frustration, copy what works.

2-      Send me your stats for review weekly via e mail or private fax.  There is magic in being accountable.

3-      Of the 5 new patient projects I send you weekly via e mail, add at least one. Add two if you really want to grow fast. The key here is consistently adding the projects.

4-      Participate.  The top 5% growth offices I work with all have regular participation in common. There are two simple ways this is done.  First the weekly live chat room, and second the monthly live tele seminar.

5-      Reduce your tax liability.  While there are more accountants out there than while lab mice, Mark Terdle, who gives priority to my clients, is one of the best.  He specializes in Chiropractic returns and their uniqueness. If you are using him then you know how effective he is, if you are curious, he can review your taxes for free as a client to see if he can help and how much he can help.  This alone will probably be your # one savings device, not over paying taxes.   ( Don’t overlook this step)

*** BONUS STEP***  Each year we hold 3 training seminars in Austin Texas.  There is something to be said about a live experience. It is recommended you attend as many of these as possible with your staff as it only adds to your growth acceleration.***

If you  have any questions as to how to best use any of the above steps, please feel free to discuss it with me at any time via:  Direct line 512-343-2503  or  drjay@drjaymorgan.com

1. Winston Churchill once said, “Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.”  Know this to be true.  Just because you have faced many defeats in your life, does not mean you have been defeated.  Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor.  Every wrong turn you take is a necessary part of your journey towards growth and eventual success.  What you learn from failure can be carried to the next effort to ensure a greater chance of success going forward.

www.drjaymorgan.com

APRILS NEW PATIENT PROJECT  ( Please start preparing now)

PATIENT APPRECIATION DAY/WEEK

Patient Appreciation day/Week is a simple and effective new patient project you can do for April. However now is the time to start planning it!  Remember it is vital to follow the steps and not miss a single one!  The closer it is followed, the better the results! This sample flier is simply a sample, if you wish to modify the title you can. I would just strongly recommend not changing the rest of the verbiage.  

1-         Mail flier out to all active patients 2 weeks ahead of the week.

2-         Mail flier out to your last 2 years inactive patients 2 weeks ahead of the week.

3-         Hand out 2 fliers to all active patients starting 2 weeks ahead of the week.

4-         Put up a banner inside your reception area 2 weeks ahead of the week.

5-         Re hand out two fliers to all active patients starting the week of PAW.

When handing out your fliers you say the following: “Mr. Jones. Many of our patient have been telling us they have had family members or friends that they would like to send in to see us, but have not for various reasons. If you have a friend or loved one that you would like us to see and or check, we will do that for you as our patient as not cost. (READ FLIER TO THE PATIENT) So if there is someone you wish to send in, please give them one of these fliers.  This program is only valid for the week of _____, so please do not let this opportunity slip by! Creating a steady flow of new patients is like a river, you have to add tributaries on a regular basis!

If you would like to see a sample patient appreciation Day/Week flier, or have questions at all how this is run, either e mail me at drjay@drjaymorgan.com 

PATIENT EDUCATION

Please copy this article to your office stationary and hand it out to your patient base this week. Remember the more your patients feel you are attached to them, the more they will be attached to you.  Which translates into longer term retention and referrals.

Is aspirin useful in primary prevention?

Abstract

There is no evidence that aspirin is effective for the primary prevention of cardiovascular events, although it may change the way that they present. Indeed, there is no evidence that long-term aspirin should be given to patients even with known cardiovascular disease. Theoretical arguments that aspirin can prevent cardiovascular events by reducing the propagation of thrombus are countered by evidence that plaque haemorrhage from vasa vasorum may also cause plaque growth and instability.

There is evidence that aspirin causes serious bleeding into the brain and the gut. Aspirin may also detract from the benefits of drugs that have definite cardiovascular benefits, such as angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors. Meta-analysis is prone to multiple biases in favor of aspirin, including publication bias, bias due to trial and endpoint selection and bias due to interpretation. Meta-analysis should not be relied on in preference to adequately powered clinical trials. Unfortunately, the benefits of aspirin, if they exist, may be so small that a very large study indeed would be required to demonstrate that its benefits outweigh its risks. The evidence that aspirin might reduce cancer is intriguing but relies on data from trials conducted many decades ago using a wide range of aspirin doses. There is no reliable evidence that aspirin used in the current fashionable doses of 50–100 mg/day is of any benefit in any common clinical setting.

1.   John G.F. Cleland^*,†

+ Author Affiliations: Imperial College London (Royal Brompton & Harefield Hospitals), London, UK and Department of Cardiology, Castle Hill Hospital, Hull and York Medical School, University of Hull, Kingston-upon-Hull HU6 5JQ, UK   ↵^*Corresponding author. Tel: +44 1482 1776; Fax: +44 1482 1779, Email: j.g.cleland@hull.ac.uk. 

www.drjaymorgan.com

Simple solutions to your practice challenges!

1. Focus on the small things you can do right now, not the big things you can’t.  SMALL changes can make a BIG difference in the end.  When in doubt just take the next small step.  Sometimes the smallest step in the right direction ends up being the biggest step of your life.

1. Don’t sit back and let things happen to you.  Go out and happen to things.  You are what you do, not what you say you’ll do.  Stop saying “I wish” and start saying “I will.”  Turn your cant’s into cans and your dreams into plans.
2. Do the work. – You can’t underestimate a person who always works hard.  Be that person.  In life, you don’t get what you wish for; you get what you work for.  Always remember that the task ahead of you is never greater than the strength within you.  Do what’s right, not what’s easy.  Your dreams are worth it.

The real reason doctors hate ICD-10    Ira Nash, MD | Physician  | March 10, 2014

It has been freezing cold in much of the country for the last two months, but things have been heating up in the controversy over the implementation of ICD-10. First, a quick primer for those of you who have not been following this. The “ICD” in ICD-10 stands for International Classification of Diseases. The “10” refers to the version of the taxonomy, which is maintained and revised periodically by the World Health Organization (WHO) and “is the standard diagnostic tool for epidemiology, health management and clinical purposes.”

Although conversion from the ICD-9 standard, which is still in use in the US, to ICD-10 is causing a major kerfuffle, it is important to note that ICD-10 has been around since 1990, and the WHO is poised to release ICD-11 in 2017. The 9th and 10th editions differ primarily in their specificity of coding, with the 10th differentiating between acute and chronic states of the same condition, left and right sided findings, initial and ongoing treatment, etc. The net result, of course, is that there are a lot more ICD-10 than ICD-9 codes to describe the full array of human disease and unfortunate mishaps, even though humans and the things that befall them have not gotten much more complicated since 1990.

The current controversy arises from the fact that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has mandated that hospitals and physicians submit their bills using the new codes as of October 1, 2014, effectively creating a new national standard for reimbursement determinations. The timing of the changeover means that doctors and hospitals must implement this as they simultaneously struggle with new quality mandates and IT meaningful use requirements. No wonder, then that the AMA has renewed its call for a delay in implementation, citing, among other things, a study (that it funded) that estimates that it will be financially “disastrous” for physicians to implement ICD-10.

Although these are legitimate concerns, I think the objections that many physicians have to ICD-10 goes deeper than having to change some old habits of how we write our notes and drop our bills. I think it has to do with a fundamental disconnect about the role of documentation.

As students and trainees, we were taught that the medical record is a tool for patient care. That it is intended to share information with other providers; or create a narrative over time, so that a patient’s progress (or lack thereof) can be observed; or provide a repository of reference information that may serve a future, as yet unidentified, clinical need. Yes, including enough information in our records for others to summarize into ICD-10 codes based on hospital documentation, or selecting the codes ourselves for office-based encounters, serves those ends. But the problem is that most clinicians believe that they can achieve the fundamental goals of clinical documentation without the constraints and complexity of ICD-10 coding.

Here is the real problem. Just as I pointed out with EMRs, we have accepted a system that pays doctors and hospitals for “doing stuff.” Naturally, those paying the bills want to make sure that the stuff they are paying for is both appropriate and actually getting done, and have demanded that we document both. The language chosen for that exchange (we tell you what we did, and you pay for it) is an epidemiologic classification scheme that was not designed for that purpose.

Is it any wonder that doctors hate it?   (Ira Nash is a cardiologist who blogs at Auscultation.)

PATIENT EDUCATION

EACH ONE OF YOUR ADJUSTING ROOMS SHOULD HAVE A DRY ERASE BOARD WITH A SAYING ON IT, TO STIMULATE THE PATIENTS TO THINK ORGANIC AND STOP THINKING ABOUT PAIN AND SYMPTOMS. THE TOPICS ON EACH BOARD ROTATE EVERY 2 WEEKS. Here are some dry erase board ideas for your consideration.  The more informed, the better the patient.  The more motivated, the better the patient refers.  

Doctors Don't Heal- " There's never been a recorded case of a doctor raising the dead, depositing calcium to mend a patient's broken bone, or any other form of actual healing. Only the body can heal itself. So the best any doctor can do is to help remove interference to your own healing ability. "

Smart or intelligent?- " Would you rather be smart or intelligent? To be smart is to have sharp, quick thought, or to be bright. Intelligence is the ability to adapt to one's environment. It is the intelligence of the body that allows us to perspire when we're hot or to burn more calories when we're cold. "

Elastic or Plastic?- " Healthy muscle is elastic, like a rubber band. Tendons, ligaments, and disc tissue is more like plastic and doesn't spring back like muscle tissue. So we only adjust those areas of your spine that are stuck, too tight, and not moving properly. "

Why don't our pets catch a cold when we get one?- " Typically, our pets don't have the physical, emotional and chemical stresses we do that weakens our immune systems and makes us available to host a disease process. "

Tonsils, Appendix, Gall Bladder- " What do these organs have in common? Apparently they're extra parts. They are often surgically removed from the body as a form of symptom-treating. The chiropractic approach is to help normalize nerve function to these and every other organ and tissue of the body so it can work as it is supposed to work. "

Cell phone- " A subluxation that disrupts nerve communication between your brain and your body is a lot like a mobile phone that disconnects or fades out between cells. "

Vomit- " If you vomit, are you sick or well? Vomiting, fevers, coughing, sneezing, and even diarrhea are usually signs that your body is working properly. Health is how well your body functions, not how well you feel. "

TOUCH AND TELL

IT IS IMPORTANT NOT TO FORGET ABOUT THE SIMPLE NEW PATIENT PROJECTS ONES THAT CAN BE DONE RIGHT IN THE ROOM WITH THE PATIENT

1-ON DAY ONE WHEN THE NEW PT COMES IN.  THEY WILL PROBABLY ENTER WITH SOME SORT OF PAIN.  ITS OK TO DISCUSS THIS WITH    THEM IN CONSULTATION. HOWEVER ONCE U HAVE EXHAUSTED THIS, ASK THE 8 ORGANIC QUESTIONS OF THEM.  MEANING, TURN THEIR ATTENTION  TO THE ORGANINC PART OF THEIR HEATH BY ASKING. HAVE YOU NOTICED? TROUBLE SLEEPING? INDIGESTION? TROUBLE DIGESTING A CERTAIN  TYPE OF FOOD? ALLERGIES? TROUBLE BREATHING  YOU GET THE PICTURE..

IT IS ALSO SUGGESTED TO ASK YOUR PATIENT WHAT I REFER TO AS THE “ ACTIVITIES OF LIFE” QUESTIONS.  WHAT DID THEY USED TO DO, THAT THEY CAN NO LONGER DO, OR NO LONGER DO WELL?  GOLF, BOWL, PICK UP THE KIDS/GRANDKIDS. GARDEN, SLEEP, TRAVEL, ETC..  DIG AND ASK THESE QUESTIONS.  

2- THEN WHEN YOU GIVE THEM THE REPORT ON DAY TWO, TIE IN YOUR FINDINGS WITH ONE OF THE 8 ORGANIC QUESTIONS, AND THE ACTIVITIES OF LIFE QUESTIONS YOU ASKED THEM.

3-GIVE THE PT LONG TERMS RECCOMENDATIONS USING A MULTIPLE APPOINTMENT CARD.

4-ON EACH CONSECUTIVE VISIT, NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOU FEEL YOU ARE REPEATING YOURSELF, DO THE FOLLOWING ON EACH VISIT.

-PALPATE

-TELLTHE PT WHAT YOU ARE ADJUSTING

-TELL THE PT WHERE THE NERVE GOES

-TELL THE PT WHAT THE NERVE DOES

-LET THEM KNOW THE PRESSURE IS BEING TAKEN OFF OF THE NERVE

-LET THE PTS KNOW THEY ARE GETTING BETTER OR RE-ASSURE THEM THAT THEY WILL GET BETTER

-REMIND THEM OF THEIR NEXT VISIT/DAY AND TIME

5-DO THE ABOVE ON EACH VISIT.   SOON THEY WILL TALK ABOUT THEIR FAMILY AND FRIENDS THAT NEED HELP OR ARE HAVING SIMILAR PROBLEMS.   ONCE THEY DO, GIVE THEM A HEALH PASS AS DISCUSSED LAST WEEK, AND PUT THEIR NAME ON IT AS WELL AS A 2 WEEK EXPIRE DATE.

PATIENT RETENTION

It is very important to focus on three vital patient retention steps.  First, make sure you re- examine all of your patients no matter what.  This doesn’t have to be a 4 hour re exam, it can be 2-3 minutes comprising of palpation, range of motion, etc.  Touch your patient.  Second, do a re report. Again, this doesn’t have to be extensive.  You simply need to convey to your patient three things. 

1- Where they were when they started care.

2- Where they are now.

3- Where the care is going, your goals, and mission.

Then step three happens on every visit, and that is touch and tell. Each visit tell your patient where the nerve goes, what it does, and what you are accomplishing with that days adjustment.  I suggest you tie it in with something organic if possible or applicable. If you do these three simple steps, the chances of you hitting a slowdown, diminish greatly.  As such your numbers should stay steady, and you can even grow some.  If we do not do these things, chances of patients finding excuses for skipping care becomes great.  

LECTURING/DETAILS

-GO TO YOUR LOCAL CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OR GO ON LINE AND GET A LIST OF YOUR LOCAL CLUBS, GROUPS OR ORGANIZATIONS, SMALL BUSINESSES, ETC....

-CALL THEN UP AND ASK FOR THE PRESIDENT OR THE HUMAN RESOURCES PERSON....TELL THIS PERSON YOU WERE REFERED BY THE CHAMBER OR WHAT EVER.  YOU HAVE TO ESTABLISH YOURSELF AND OR MAKE YOURSELF CREDIBLE.  HERE IS WHAT YOU SAY "HI, MY NAME IS DOCTOR MORGAN AND I WAS REFERED TO YOU BY THE LOCAL CHAMBER.  I HAVE BEEN GIVING A SERIES OF LECTURES ON STRESS. IT TAKES ABOUT 30 MINUTES, AND WE DO SO AT NO CHARGE TO LOCAL GROUPS.  IT TEACHES YOUR _____HOW TO DEAL WITH STRESS....I AM AVAILABLE IN THE MONTH OF __________.. AND WANTED TO SEE WHAT DAY THIS WEEK WAS BEST FOR YOU...   "NEVER ASK, TELL THEM WHEN U ARE AVAILABLE.....

HERE IS THE LECTURE AND THE CLOSE:

Thank-you very much for inviting me. I want to present a few new ideas on stress and how you can cope with this growing problem. First of all my name is Dr. _____. I am a chiropractor practicing in _____ and I am a graduate of the ___ Chiropractic College. A large majority of my patients are more than just casual victims of stress. Now of course everyone has troubles, problems and day to day worries and concerns no matter what they do. And everyone has had one of those days when no matter what they did things just didn’t go right! Let me tell you about what happened to me. INSERT YOUR STORY..OR A STORY YOU KNOW, IN HERE..

The point is that no matter who you are or what you do you will always have problems in life. The only people with no problems are dead so if you’re having problems consider yourself fortunate! Now in dealing with problems I want you to remember a very important principle. It’s called the 80-10-10 principle! It is true of all of life’s activities whether in your occupation or your family life that 80% of the things you do will work out well, 10% will work out fair, and only 10% of the things will never, ever work out. So in projects, in your relationship with your employer, your employees, your family and friends we need to remember that if we are doing things right and in a proper, ethical way 80% of the people will approve, 10% of the people basically won’t care, and the other 10% will disapprove. If you will keep in mind that no matter how nice, no matter how friendly, no matter how efficient you are in your work place, you are going to get 80% approval, then when a negative experience occurs think: 80-10-10.and it will put everything into perspective. Using this rule can decrease the amount of stress we place on ourselves considerably.   Frankly we must realize that nobody is right all the time, with the possible exception of my wife, and the most we can do is to do our best!

Have you ever noticed that we place a higher value on negative experiences than positive ones?  We can have 10 good things happen to us throughout the day and then when one bad thing happens that’s all we can think about. When this happens to me I have to be mindful of the 80-10-10 rule. Another way of saying it is don’t let the negative few outweigh the positive many.

Now stress comes in 3 types, emotional, chemical, and physical stress. Now how many of you here are married? Okay then you know what emotional stress is! Do we really need to talk about this one? You know they say marriage is like a three ring circus, first comes the engagement ring, next the wedding ring and then comes the suffering! Now under this emotional/psychological category another way I’ve noticed that people can really stress themselves out is by watching the news all the time. You know its news in the morning, and then you read the paper and then news again at night. I was talking to a patient before her treatment and I mentioned that I was going camping that weekend with my family. She said Oh I would never do that I would be too scared. Now hearing her say that really puzzled me and got me curious. I asked her if she listened to the news a lot and she said all the time! I asked if she read the newspaper she said habitually! I told her to stop doing both for 30 days and see if she felt better. Remember 80-10-10, well news and newspapers only talk about the last ten%, the bad stuff, and they blow it up bigger than life and bombard you with it all day every day. It’s no wonder the poor lady was scared to go have a family outing. Her stress had immobilized her. Now you may not have it that bad, but watching the news all the time keeps us over informed about things we can do little or nothing about. Life can be tragic enough without us taking every bad thing in the world over the last 24hrs and then compressing it into 30 minutes news program and hearing it over and over again.  It carries over into our attitudes and perceptions of the world and can cloud them. Thoughts of fear, anger and worry all lead to negative emotional states which actually cause our bodies to secrete substances that promote aging and ill health. Positive thoughts cause our bodies to secrete chemicals that slow down the aging process and can actually bring about healing in our bodies.

That leads us into chemical stress. Chemical stress is one we don’t think much about, but it should be. Chemicals can destroy and change tissue quickly and over time and eventually lead to disability and death. Now I must confess here and now I’ve always thought of myself as somewhat bulletproof in this regard. I felt like I could eat just about anything and suffer no ill effects whatsoever. I would scoff at my wife when she started buying organic foods that cost 3 times more. I’ve never figured that out. Shouldn’t organic foods be cheaper since they don’t have to put insecticides on it? Anyway, I researching this further I am much more careful about what I put in my body. Let’s take something simple like ice cream. Tell about commercial, list ingredients. Sonic float.

Proper water intake is a very important part of the proper chemical balance in our bodies. I remember a star trek episode where they had a device that extracted all the water from your bodies and all you were left with was a little pile of chemicals. Water is not only essential for life it is absolutely essential for good health. If your choking down a few sips of water each day there is absolutely no way your body can function properly. The old standard 8 glasses a day doesn’t cut it either. If you want to know how much water your body needs in order to carry out its normal everyday functions I will give you the formula. Take your body weight and divide by two. Drink that number of ounces each day. It may take practice and you may have to work up to it. But it will pay you big dividends in health. And it’s free!

Physical stress is just that, the stress that we put on our physical bodies. Bending, lifting, poor posture, slips, falls, accidents, etc. all take their toll on our spines. Most of us don’t realize it but the most constant stress on our bodies is gravity and it is a significant stressor. It causes our spines to compress and we actually shrink, as we get older. That’s why the astronauts get taller when they’re in space.

Now I want to show you how all three forms of stress can affect your health. (Pull out spine) This is what our spine looks like from the front……When we are under stress from any one of the three forms of stress we mentioned the muscles of the spine can pull it to one side causing a curvature in the spine like this. If the curve due to stress is great enough it can impinge or choke one or more of these delicate nerves. When this condition occurs it is known as a subluxation, and I’d like for you to remember that word because this is really what a chiropractor treats. Because these nerves go to every cell, tissue and organ of your body this can cause a wide range of symptoms. Show Chart! For instance, the nerve that comes from the base of the head radiates back up into the head. If stress has caused that nerve to be pinched do you think it could cause a headache yes or yes?  As a matter of fact in my experience almost all headaches are caused by the pinching of these nerves in and around the brain stem.    Now let’s look at the area of the spine around the 6th thoracic vertebra. Lots of people have tension in the upper back between their shoulder blades, but the nerve that comes from this area not only supplies the muscles in your back but also goes to the stomach. So I want you to understand that there is a direct connection between the health of your spine and that of your stomach and of all your other organs for that matter.  Each level of the spine has a different nerve associated with it and that nerve controls another organ or set of functions in the body. When our bodies experience stress either physically, emotionally or chemically it can cause stress in our spines and directly affect our nervous system, which can cause anything from headaches and back pain to epilepsy.

So you see your organs rely on having 100% nerve flow in order for them to be healthy. Stress left unchecked can interfere with that nerve flow and result in disease. So having a healthy spine is essential to the health of the body. Now you must consider that the headaches you’re having might be related to your neck pain. Your back pain might be related to that nervous stomach or constipation.

I work with patients all day long and their most common complaint is pain, muscle pain, back pain, neck pain, but it is very common that many of the problems these people have with their organs are resolved as their back pain starts going away. I believe in giving those I come into contact with just a little more than they bargained for and that is the reason for this packet. This packet has in it a sheet that shows how misalignments in the spine can result in problems in the body. This is taken directly from Gray’s anatomy book which is the text that all medical Dr.’s use in order to graduate.  The same is true for Drs. of chiropractic.  Look this over later because you or someone you know may be trying unsuccessfully to medicate these problems away.

THERE NEEDS TO BE SEVERAL SHEETS IN THIS PAC.

1-COVER SHEET

2-SIGN IN SHEET

3-MERIC CHART

4-POSTURE CHART

5-EXERCISE CHART

THE CLOSE:

MANY TIMES I GIVE THIS LECTURE AND PEOPLE COME UP TO ME AFTERWARD AND SAY "DOC I HAVE HAD THIS OR THIS, THINGS WE DISCUSED IN THE LECTURE, AND THEY WANT TO GET CHECKED, BUT HAVE BEEN PUTTING IT OFF FOR ONE REASON OR THE OTHER..." IF THAT DESCRIBES YOU.. I would be happy to do EXAMINE YOU, IN CLUDING XRAYS for you at no charge AS A PART OR AN EXTENSION OF THIS LECTURE TODAY.  THE ONLY THING I ASK YOU IS TO Simply put your name and number on the page that say NAME/FRIENDS/LOVED ONES.  AND I WILL CALL YOU PERSONALLY WITH IN THE NEXT 24 HOURS TO ARRANGE A TIME THAT WORKS BEST FOR YOUR SCHEDULE..  JUST TAKE THIS SHEET AND ONCE YOU ARE DONE COMPLETING IT,  LEAVE IT ON YOUR CHAIR OR DESK, AND I WILL GATHER IT WHEN WE CONCLUDE..

CONCLUDE WITH A SHORT STORY OR A JOKE THAT IS CLEAN AND APPLIES. MOST DOCTORS USE SOME SORT OF AN EMOTIONAL STORY HERE. ABOUT A CHIROPRACTIC SUCCESS STORY.. ETC……….ONCE THIS IS DONE, REPEAT THE CLOSE ONCE AGAIN... 

Giving lectures is worth about 2-8 new patients a time. the beauty of it is this procedure/promotion is free, takes about 30 minutes time, and is effective.  

You are needed.  You matter.  Always go above and beyond for those who need you most.  In a world full of people who couldn’t care less, be someone who couldn’t care more.

In having the honor of mentoring Chiropractors not for nearly 30 years I have had the opportunity to observe patterns that makes some very successful, and other patterns that keeps some stuck or in a rut.  While there are too many such patterns to list here I wanted to discuss one of the more important ones here and that is LISTENING.  Most people, not just chiropractors, do not really listen. I have been guilty of that myself. When someone else is speaking, sharing, or giving advice, we tend to drift off. The most common way we drift is by thinking of what we are going to say next, rather than giving 100% attending to what is being said.  I have done this in board meetings. Rather than focusing on what is being said, my mind races forward to my reply, or what I plan on saying next.      

The net effect of this is we don’t hear what is being said, and of course if what is being said is important, or relates to us, if will have no effect nor will it be effective, because for all intents and purposes, we never heard it in the first place.  Being that it is critical for our relationships and future success for us to listen, it is vital that we change this pattern, and LISTEN.  Here is how:

1-      Present time consciousness.  When in the room or in conversation with someone, don’t drift off. Stay present.  This will take effort to break your prior pattern but it is possible.

2-      Be slow to speak.  I call it the 2 to 1 rule.  Listen 2 times longer than you speak.

3-      Ask questions when the other person is talking, engage.

4-      Don’t feel you have to share everything in one burst, breathe deeply, let the other person share.

5-      When they are done speaking, pause before you talk.

6-      Focus on what the other person is saying, and take action on it. Thank them for sharing.

7-      People know when you drift off, and when you do, they will also.  Keep eye contact, or if you are on the phone,  keep ear contact.

My mom used to tell me there is a reason we have two ears and one mouth.  Actually this is good advice. So this week, work on your listening skills as you do your practice and life will improve.  So will your bank account. (Hint Hint)