Blend it

As time draws closer to the end of my education here in rainy Portland Oregon, I am thinking more and more about how to structure a clinic that will draw patients in with musculoskeletal problems and clients who are interested in bettering their health.

My personal interests are in wellness as well as manual medicine for musculoskeletal problems, so a clinic design that speaks both values and services is necessary to be as clear as possible to potential customers.  The public largely sees Doctors of Chiropractic as back doctors.  This, as we know, is a very narrow view of our beloved profession and skill-sets, for that matter.  How do we get people to recognize our skills which branch far beyond adjusting the back bones?  In my opinion, we will pigeon hole ourselves if we throw our last name and chiropractic behind it as the name of our business.  Spangler Chiropractic doesn't speak the message I want to be heard.

I know many of my fellow DC peeps will probably do the exact opposite of what I am chatting about in this blog and will likely buy into a technique system that gives them a way to market themselves.  My hope is that instead of marketing ourselves as followers of some cult, we'll look at what people need as a whole to gain health and reduce musculoskeletal disease.

The idea of my future clinic blends chiropractic medicine, physical therapy/rehab, fitness training and massage therapy.  Four unique disciplines that blend nicely into an ethical, legitimate clinic design.  It isn't fair of me to say we all need to do this but it is fair to say that if we buy into a marketing/technique system that suggests adjusting the back is the only thing a person needs to get healthy, we are doing a disservice to the public.  I know I have preached many times about this idea of blending services and I hope at least one person who reads this blog will see the light.

How much square footage would be needed to open a business like this?  I think you can get by with 1500 sqft.  This is based on working for a fitness franchise in the past and how they structured their space as well as working for a few chiropractors in the past 6 years.  If you have 1 personal trainer/assistant, 1 massage therapist/assistant, a front desk person and yourself, you can create a referral system within your clinic.  The personal trainer can do rehab for you, the massage therapist can do soft tissue work and the front desk person can handle patient/client scheduling and customer service.

To get such a program going it will take capital to buy chiropractic, fitness and massage equipment.  As far as exam rooms, you could use 2 chiropractic treatment rooms, 1 massage room, a 12x10 fitness bay that could function as a physical therapy area and use the remaining space to build an office for yourself and a cardiovascular deck.  The expense comes from cardiovascular equipment.  Most treadmills are about $3,000-$4,000 dollars and recumbent bikes and elliptical machines are about the same.  However, if you offer personal training services and massage services for a cash fee, you can profit enough to cover the expense.  I believe paying a trainer $15-$20 for a session is fair.  You charge the client $50 or more for a session and you've made $30-$35 for a 45 minute training session.  The same can be done with massage therapy.

On top of that service, which by the way, is ethical, you have the entire chiropractic medicine world to play with too.  Insurance pays for chiropractic and physical therapy services which is quite profitable if done correctly and ethically.  In the grand scheme of things, you can offer full service rehab and fitness in a health optimizing, ethical manner.  When you compare this model with a technique system that forces you to practice unethically by selling subluxation theory to vulnerable patients, I think the former versus the latter will allow you to sleep at night.  If you believe otherwise, I think a good counseling session would help.

Coming from a personal training background and entering the field of chiropractic medicine  has opened my eyes to the possibilities which lie before each of us.  We each have the opportunity to be different than allopathic doctors, in that, we can get people healthy without drugs or surgery and be their coach with all their fitness needs.  It really comes down to defining oneself based on a set of values and objective standards that the public understands.  Selling a theory that is controversial in order to build a business is wrong.

Now that we are clear on that subject, I will get off my soap box.  I would love to see chiropractic become a college at any university and perhaps connect it with psychology departments, kinesiology departments, health science colleges etcetera.  The only way I know to do this is to set an example of how chiropractic can be practiced ethically and work diligently to change the public's perspective.

We are all going to be subjected to brutal criticism when we are in practice.  I have experienced this many times since being in school.  We cannot take this harsh reality to heart because it will create a negative life that we live everyday.  All we can do is know that what we do is ethical and our intentions are purely for the betterment of the public.  Their criticisms are largely based in ignorance and the hierarchy of self-fulfillment via mediocre discriminating viewpoints.  If you fall into the category that these critics hate, then you deserve every bit of their heckling and abuse.

All for now