June 2002

Industrial Strength: Chiropractic Technology’s Role in Building Partnerships
By David Marcarian, MA

There are those rare moments when a convergence of forces moves a profession to the next level, and we are witnessing that evolution in chiropractic today. Business, technology, and chiropractic services have merged, taking doctors beyond the realm of private practice and into businesses and industries across the country.

This new frontier offers incredible opportunities, but an equivalent number of challenges, for doctors interested in working in the occupational and industrial environments. To compete successfully, you need the inside track. The integration of chiropractic technology is proving to be a key factor for success in many aspects of the industrial chiropractic arena.

Today’s bottom-line business practices are motivating organizations to adopt more efficient ways of managing their operations and their human resources. Businesses are challenged by a variety of issues that include pre-placement/post-offer screenings, employee wellness and productivity, ergonomics and injury prevention, workers’ compensation claims, health educational programs, Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) training requirements, and lost work time associated with employees seeking routine health-care services.

If there has ever been a need seeking a solution, business and chiropractic were destined to be partners. And while chiropractic may be the obvious answer, “selling” your message to business and industry can be another story.

Traditional methods of presenting the chiropractic solution often don’t succeed in the industrial environments of occupational services and the med-legal arena. Data-driven organizations want to see measurement strategies and outcome analyses. Claims adjusters and attorneys want more objective data, proving the presence or absence of injury, and progress reports that clearly show a patient’s response to care. More than ever, everyone is looking for indicators of credibility, professionalism, and the knowledge they are working with a technologically advanced health-care provider.

Chiropractic technology can play an important role in helping to set the standard for credibility and documentation. For example, studies have shown that surface electromyography (SEMG) is a valid measure for separating injured from non-injured employees, for assessing chronic low back pain, and for providing additional objective data.

SEMG test results have also been admitted as evidence in court proceedings. Field reports indicate doctors are benefiting from the inclusion of SEMG scans in their workers’ compensation files, and that SEMG and thermography measurements have had a positive influence on litigated cases.

Not surprisingly, the advantages that chiropractic technology can offer the industrial/occupational practitioner have resulted in a surge of interest in computerized instrumentation equipment.

High-Tech Solutions
Many doctors agree that one of their biggest challenges in establishing relationships with business and industry is the ability to produce data. Basically, high-tech organizations are looking for high-tech solutions. Whether businesses want pre-placement screenings, on-site chiropractic services, or workers’ comp case management, they want data that justify their choices and offer them the ability to measure the success of their programs.

While understanding an organization’s needs and meeting their expectations are distinct advantages, knowing how to promote your services is still high on the list for winning the contract. You might even have to learn how to put together a splashy Microsoft PowerPoint presentation or create a few charts and graphs to sell your services.

Pre-Placement Screenings
The use of chiropractic technology can be helpful with a variety of industrial pre-placement services. The inclusion of additional objective data can be valuable for employers and workers alike by providing information that may be used in a variety of ways. One potential application is for modifying work activities for those employees with increased risk for on-the-job injuries. Both SEMG and thermography can help reveal muscle recruitment and activation patterns that are associated with prior injury or existing dysfunction. Pre-placement screenings and other employer services can be creatively expanded into continuing wellness programs, encompassing a variety of on-site services.

Ergonomics Consulting
Managing the work environment to reduce injuries is another bottom-line need for businesses today. In keeping with current trends, industry is becoming more prevention-oriented, and ergonomics consulting is another valuable service chiropractors can offer.

Dynamic SEMG testing can be used to evaluate workers in actual on-the-job settings, helping employers design job functions and work environments that are less injurious to employees. Using appropriate single-subject design studies, repeated dynamic tests are performed by employees as their work activities are modified. The dynamic scan findings are used to identify the safest ways to perform the work duties. DCs are well-equipped to provide this counsel based on their extensive chiropractic training in biomechanics and spinal kinematics.

On-Site Chiropractic Services
While some company benefits have been downsized or eliminated, most organizations are still placing an emphasis on healthy workers and minimum down-time. On-site chiropractic services can be tailored to each organization’s individual needs and can offer everything from pre-placement screenings to routine chiropractic care.

But large organizations often present an obstacle course of legal liability concerns and contractual requirements. The inclusion of chiropractic technology in all phases of on-site services can offer the standardization and measurement methods that companies are looking for when evaluating their exposures and risks. Many times, there is no contractual precedent at a business for these types of services, and terms must be authored by the two parties.

Offering a subset of initial services can be an effective strategy for giving the organization time to gain confidence and allow contractual systems to evolve. For example, you could start out by participating in corporate health fairs, consultations, and spinal screenings.

Med-Legal Services
The search for more objective data in workers’ compensation cases has stimulated a growing interest in how chiropractic technology can benefit the med-legal practitioner. That interest is shared by businesses and clinicians alike. SEMG and thermography provide valuable objective data that can be useful in a variety of clinical and legal situations, ranging from validation of injury to the justification for continuing care.

While everyone will agree that injured workers should receive all the benefits they are entitled to, the documentation of injury and recovery are important issues for employers seeking to mitigate losses associated with fraudulent workers’ comp claims.

The additional objective data offered by static and dynamic SEMG and thermography testing can assist with defining a worker’s functional ability, the presence or absence of soft-tissue injury, and malingering. Dynamic muscle studies can also help reveal a worker’s readiness to resume normal work activities, or the need to remain on modified duty.

Added Benefits
Successful alliances with local business and industry inevitably result in benefits for the DC’s private practice. Many times, the impression you make at the job site, or through your med-legal services, drives a steady stream of business to your door.

Employees will often refer their friends and family members, because they are familiar with you and trust you. It doesn’t get much better than that.

Mr. Marcarian is founder and president of Precision Biometrics, supplier of the MyoVision SEMG and Thermoglide systems. He lectures for Palmer College of Chiropractic, and his course on surface electromyography is endorsed by all U.S. chiropractic associations that mandate SEMG training. He has instructed more than 6,000 chiropractors on proper SEMG use. He can be reached at 800-969-6961, or visit his company’s website at www.myovision.com