Communication and holistic education for patients to elevate the standard of care — not just removing the pain, but healing
Being a chiropractor affords us unique opportunities to lead people to balance. We’ve mapped out many models of health relating the spine to our homeostatic mechanisms of survival. I believe one of our greatest specialties is to understand people and to demonstrate that through holistic education at every level of care.
In psychology, “mirroring” is a great example of that. You can emulate someone’s speech, affect, behavior, or any other qualities to establish rapport with them. Not coincidentally, communication is one of the spine’s most vital meta-functions which can have a broad effect on the body. We can establish great rapport and influence with patients by further mirroring their biology, especially all spine-related functions.
The holistic perspective
When I think of specialties, I know that the traditional mentality in health care is more linear — a “stay in your lane” kind of approach — but when the spine is your territory, wholistic perspective is built in (I prefer to think of the spine and its closely related areas as a single apparatus).
So, when I tell someone that I’m going to help them meet their body’s needs through the spine, we’re going to focus on holistic education and whole body functions like balance and breathing — which the brain monitors 24/7 for survival.
Internal communication
We can say that the physical integrity of the spine is important in providing protection to the nervous system, but above all we need to respect its role in the exchange of information within the body.
If a patient presents with symptoms, we can demonstrate sympathy by offering them relief. Unfortunately, that sort of reactive care has been all too common in the field of health care, and we can easily become more urgency-driven just trying to soothe everybody. But we have an opportunity to empower people with better health, by honoring our internal communication, and that includes teaching them about the protection offered by the perception of pain (nociception).
In a higher standard of care, we choose to mirror the processes that result in both improved function as well as the relief and satisfaction that come with being healthy … not just removing some pain. Pain relief does not mean healing; rather, healing is achieved through stabilization. Do you then teach patients through holistic education how to maintain themselves? How to hold adjustments and behave in sustainable ways? Communicating these principles hand-in-hand with your adjustment is what corrective care is all about.
Ideally what the doctor does in-office and what the patient does around the clock fit together in a cohesive campaign. They’re not just coming to you for a bail-out. They’re coming to you for correction through complete care. That’s the potential of this communication-driven model of care.
The role of collective knowledge
We can further establish common ground by solving problems together, leaning on our collective knowledge.
For example, some of the most common posture patterns affecting the spine, like foot pronation, are predictable — it’s the same thing over and over again as we’re living under constant forces like gravity — yet we feel isolated, seeing only our differences instead of a common path to balance.
A great example of addressing related areas of the spine is care of the feet. When we talk about trying to mirror the body, the first thing I like to point out is that the feet are given high, great importance neurologically (muscle spindle density) when compared to the spine. Through proprioception, the feet in particular are monitored by the brain nearly as much as the spine. When it comes to the brain monitoring the body, the extremities, specifically feet and hands, have a lot to say about movement quality along with the spine.
So, when I look at these related areas and issues that can affect the spine, I’m constantly reminded of one thing: The brain is paying quite a bit of attention to the feet through internal communications.
Chiropractors know proprioceptors, muscle spindle organs, function like GPS, providing inner awareness of the body — it’s how our brains track and coordinate all of our movements. So, the quality of our alignment and movement of the spine and feet really matters in this system of feedback in the body, and that relationship gives great power to what we can do. We can induce rapid correction with our hands by adjusting the spine and extremities, but how do we affect that ongoing conversation that must constantly react to gravity in between sessions? Does the common pronation pattern in the feet that usually accompanies forward head carriage and pelvic tilting reverse after adjustments or perpetuate following plastic deformation of the feet?
To reach our potential as doctors we need to ask the question: What comes after, “I got adjusted, so now I am moving better, I have less pain, I’m breathing better, I’m more relaxed”? We can take this process of balance and movement a step further with custom stabilizing orthotics. As the expert, I want to demonstrate to the patient through specific care plans and patient education what’s most important to their body. So, when we say that things like balance and breathing are important, we want that to be synchronized in both our in-office care as well as doctor-guided home care. With so many things for patients to pay attention to, we can automate that part of care with specific functional foot support that protects the investment they make through complete chiropractic care.
With custom orthotics as an example, here are the steps we take to mirror the communication of the body:
- Scan the feet. Observe and mirror the neurobiological importance of the feet.
- Custom recommendation in care plan. The doctor reinforces this as a priority through the stabilization of the body utilizing custom orthotics.
- Automation of patient compliance. The patient automates compliance through convenient utilization of this corrective process, dispensed for easy home care.
- Sustainable, complete chiropractic strategy. As a team, implement a sustainable behavior modification that supports complete spine care and helps prevent future stress, respecting communication at all levels.
Maintain balance and breathing
As far as my specialty around the spine, through holistic education I’m teaching people how we can drive behavior to continually support the body at all times in all positions. We should think of spinal health as brain health and vice versa. In this model I like to think of care of the feet and other related areas of the spine as “brain food,” contributing valuable information to survive/thrive balance through sustainable behavior.
We can achieve this when collectively we turn our attention to balance and breathing, the two most essential functions of the spine, giving our patients the best chance at health.
ANISH BAJAJ, DC, is a 2000 graduate of Life University in Atlanta, Ga. He is the owner of Bajaj Chiropractic in New York City. He serves on the executive board of the New York Chiropractic Council and is the chair of their Neuroscience and Research Committee. As a member of the Foot Levelers Speakers Bureau, he travels extensively, sharing his chiropractic knowledge and expertise with audiences around the country. He can be reached at anish@bajajchiropractic.com.
