For a long time, my practice was pain based. This meant my clients based how their health status purely on whether they were in pain or not.
Not only was this hard work for them and for me, it was unpredictable and often led to only short-term results.
Ironically these ‘pain focused’ patients would see more often than my maintenance patients albeit in short bursts.
Short term thinking = short term results.
In recent years I have shifted gears. My practice now is predominantly wellness based. This means my patients understand pain is the last ‘cab off the rank’ and the ‘first the go’. They understand pain is the tip of the iceberg and that there is usually a build up over time they are unaware of.
They also understand everyone has a different pain threshold, everyone feels pain differently. In my observation influencing factors include time of day, hormones, the weather, their mood and mental state, whether they exercise or not, the type of exercise, medications, drug to drug and drug to nutrient interactions, how long they have had pain…the list goes on.
For all these reasons pain is NOT AN ACCURATE indication of a person’s health status.
Typically, the pain focused patient is in a constant loop never ever really reaching resolution, thinking ‘fix and cure’ rather than management.
Eventually they (and you) get tired of this and worst case, is they then determine you and your treatment didn’t work, and worse still, your entire modality didn’t work, worse still, your entire practice didn’t deliver. You get the picture.
So, if you or your patients are on this train you are only ever headed for short term results. It’s like moving a mountain from one week to the next.
My approach is give my patients a heads up right from the outset. I address their immediate concerns whilst also giving them an insight into the medium and long-term plans.
Of course, it’s always their choice however, if in some cases the journey can be long, and they need to know this up front.
Irrespective of their decision process you have done your job. You’re now in a much better position to reach longer term results, a patient centred, self-care model where your patients understand the finer points of their bodies functioning and are able to read the signs much sooner, before the pain hits.
Long term thinking = long term results!
About the Author:
Dr. Andrew Arnold (Chiropractor) is a Chiropractor and the Million Dollar Wellness Mentor.
Founder: The Practice Leverage Revolution, Cranbourne Family Chiropractic and Wellness Centreand the 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.