We want to do our absolute best for our patients, of course. We have so much to give and at the beginning of our practice career, we may not have many patients to give to.
So what happens? We over-service, over treat, over prescribe, over schedule.
The result, over stimulation, neurological overload, unwanted healing reactions or crisis’s, over-whelm, and over spend.
The patient runs a mile and you are left deflated because you feel you have given so much.
Sound familiar?
In my experience, practitioners overdo treatment all the time thinking they are achieving more when in fact they are achieving much less.
Less is more, I’m sure you’ve heard the saying.
In my view this is usually driven by insecurity and ego. We lead from our modality and in turn make our consultations all about that rather than the patient.
The reality is our patients do not care about our modality! Sorry to break it to you.
They only care about the result, and the time and money required to get them there.
What sells this to them is your passion behind your modality, more on that in my other blogs.
Let’s focus on what actually happens when we overdo treatment. Oftentimes we provoke a healing reaction or worse still a healing crisis.
This is an uncomfortable experience for our patients. The old adage, you have to feel worse before you feel better, in my view, if managed well, does not need to happen.
We must respect the bodies amazing healing capacity and know exactly what to do, how much to do and when to do. Knowing when not to treat, and judging the time between visits is as important as your actual treatment itself.
If you don’t follow the less is more principal you will turn your patients away with a mis-judgement around you and your treatment.
I implore you, if you’re patients have a vote of confidence in you, they will understand the less is more principle and you will get far, far better results.
About the Author:
Dr. Andrew Arnold (Chiropractor) is Founder of the Practice Leverage Revolution, Principal Chiropractor and owner, Cranbourne Family Chiropractic and Wellness Centre; Wellness Coach and Founder of Million Dollar Wellness Practice. Andrew is married to Dr. Linda Wilson, the Stress Specialist and has two children, Isaac and Bella. He lives in Melbourne, Australia.