I recently attended the annual Parker Seminars Las Vegas event.
I recently attended the annual Parker Seminars Las Vegas event. Sure enough for me, after the long flight and the first morning of sitting at sessions, I experienced discomfort from which I began craving relief. I finally visited the booth across from me at the trade show, where a DC was demonstrating some instrumentation. He was tending to a lineup of attendees who were, perhaps like me, half curious and half seeking treatment. When my turn came, the doctor assessed me, and began applying various attachments of his vibration/pulsing/massaging instrument to my back. The man worked for several minutes before stopping to assess me again. I was already more comfortable, but he clearly did not feel his work was done. (Neither did I, for that matter.)
I’m betting you will all be able to guess what this chiropractor did next, which brought me full reprieve from the pain and stiffness I had been struggling with.
He adjusted me. (Thanks, doc!)
This February issue of Canadian Chiropractor magazine includes topics surrounding techniques and technology – it is the time of year when we open the dialogue regarding strategies for broadening the range of therapies that chiropractors can offer, thereby widening the variety of patients who might benefit from chiropractic knowledge, and finding more patient-centred ways to develop the DC’s practice. But, this year, we go beyond merely rhyming off various advances and new discoveries; we also offer reasons why DCs might want to remain open to new developments, and also call on chiropractors to critically evaluate those products and technologies that they do decide to recommend to, or use on, their patients.
This latter suggestion is not meant with any disrespect or doubt toward those who support the profession by providing instrumentation, new techniques, products or home-care strategies. These folks, in their own right, are also trying to reach out to patients, while offering DCs options for increasing their potential as practitioners. However, it only raises the bar for all of us if our collective focus remains on maximizing the efficacy and safety of these products and strategies. This must involve a paradigm that is uncompromisingly centred on those people who give themselves to DCs as patients – a vulnerable and intimidating position to be in – seeking relief and guidance.
I do not suggest that the adjustment is of less value to the DC, as a result of new complementary strategies that he/she might utilize. (Whereas I benefited, I’m sure, from the DC’s application of his instrumentation to my sore body, the treatment would not, I believe, have been as successful without the adjustment component.)
This issue supports the conviction that, when employed in a customized, mindful, patient-centred, and, yes – and, without apology – evidence-informed manner, chiropractic care based on the adjustment can bring relief, maximize performance and outlook, and even change an educated patient’s mindset with respect to healthy practices and disease prevention. Chiropractic’s movement to increase its methods and applications, through new techniques and technologies, is only one of the manifestations of the drive that DCs have to bring the power of the adjustment to as many patient populations as possible, while also enhancing their own skills and knowledge along the way, thereby offering the most complete and effective care.
Bien à vous
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