The 3 Chiropractic Practice Models of Today 🦴 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 👶 (Choose Wisely)

This 20-minute "Chiro TED Talk" style video could be one of the most important ones you watch in your entire career! And for students and start ups, it could be the most pivotal EARLY awareness and "Oh snap that's so true!" understanding you ever get... and put you on the right course for you future practice right out of the gates! 

Let's break down each one in some more detail here: 

Practice Model #1 - Back, Neck, Spinal 🦴, Pain, & Insurance-Dependent Practice. 

Every bit of our standard training prepares us to put on the white coat 🥼 with our name "Dr. Back Pain" stitched on it, and along with "spinal manipulations" you are supposed to rock rehab, massage, PT, traction, and a whole host of other "spine stretching" therapies to help you alleviate their pain in 8-12 visits or less, rack up the insurance 🧾 bill, and send them on their way! 

This Spinal 🦴 Doctor Model brings with it: 

1. Extremely hard to market and stand out 📢 , meaning you're usually stuck with spinal screenings, health talks at the local CPA firm, and resorting to $19 back pain ads to get people in the door (who then leave in 8 visits) 
2. No chance to see kids 🧒 and families 
3. High overhead 💰 because of all the costs with PT, Rehab, Massage, and especially due to having to accept insurance 🧾 
4. Horrible retention (and no "monthly maintenance" does not count) 😬 

Most graduates and practicing chiros just accept this model and default right into it, because it's the "easy road" and all they know. This is exactly why I think Dr. BJ Palmer was famous for this quote... 

"It's the path of least resistance that makes rivers and men crooked." 

Setting up a back pain chiro clinic does not necessarily make one outright crooked, because you can definitely pair this up with a subluxation-based model as well... it's just far more difficult to see kids and families and really have the roots of our Chiropractic Philosophy, Principles, and Science (neurology 🧠) makes the way through and past the limited scope that is back and neck pain. 

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Practice Model #2 - The "Family Wellness" Practice 

This practice model has been around easily for the last 30-40 years or so, and put simply -- it's our best attempt (well, previously until PX came along) to get unstuck from the back pain model we just discussed above. 

But here's the problem I discuss at length in the video training above that goes with this blog post -- it's simply not enough. 

The problem with this family wellness model is not in the name of it, because that is absolutely the net outcome we want... tons and tons of families coming in every single week for life to get adjusted, empowered, and live that kick-ass chiro life at all times! 

The "hidden subluxations" 🔍 and problems with this model are rooted in: 

1. The Marketing / Branding of the Model 
2. The Operational Structure of the Model 

Flat out - marketing wellness is hard. 

Even gyms 🏋️‍♀️, nutritional supplements, and essential oil companies barely try to do it. Their marketing and ads are not about "prevention" and "wellness" - they are about weight loss and taking certain supplements for certain conditions and symptoms. 

Look, I wish it were different my friend! I wish I could make 💯 of our marketing at PWC all about prevention, family wellness, vitality, and the expression of innate intelligence from pregnancy 🤰 to infancy 👶  to forever! 

But, it doesn't work. 

Been there, tried that. 

Early on in practice, I got both my CCWP (Wellness CertificatIon) 👨‍🎓 and CACCP (Pediatric Certification) 👨‍🎓 and I busted my ass trying to sell the model of practice they taught me to my community! 

Do you know what happened? Not much. I kept having to default back to regular adult patients with back pain, sports injuries, and migraines. 🤦‍♂️ 

Now, I was determined, persistent, and committed enough to really ratchet up my communication, table talk, and push hard for my Tuesday night WOW 🤩 Workshop and share the message of Pediatrics and Family Wellness with my active adult patients! 

But, it worked very little not very much. 

Using this operational model they all taught me I got to maybe 10-20% pediatrics, but if you hung out with me each day that first year or two as I grew to 350-450 a week... it was still mostly adults with neck pain, headaches, and sports injuries. 

I was helping a lot of people... but not THE people I so badly wanted to help, pregnant 🤰 moms, babies 👶 , kids 🧒 , and full families! 

I may have called myself "Family Wellness" on the outside, but it was still 90% typical back and neck pain + spinal care + rehab + insurance-dependency on the inside. 🤦‍♂️ 

So, I had to make my own model. It was truly out of pure frustration and determination that over the next 5-10 years we'd slowly but surely test out, build-out, and perfect what I now have... the 3rd model discussed and taught below: 

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Practice Model #3 -- The PX Pediatric + Perfect Storm 🌪 Practice of the Future 

This model kicks ass 🔥 ! 

And the coolest part - it only takes a subtle (but significant) shift in those two problems we found with the family wellness model discussed above! 

Here's what we did: 

First, we flipped our Branding & Marketing 📢  completely upside down from what we were taught and how everyone else did it -- and marketed 💯  to Pregnancy 🤰 , Pediatrics 👶 , and the Perfect Storm🌪  first! And second, we did a full 180 with our operational model, systems, and procedures and focused 💯  on kids first! 

Here's what that looks like broken down: 

• We changed our logo, website, social media, radio 📻 , and print ads to pediatrics 👶  and pregnancy only! 
• We remodeled the entire office to be 💯 kid and pregnancy 🤰 friendly, from the paint color to the kid's playroom to the posters on the wall.
• We stopped 🛑  doing screenings and health talks at local gyms and businesses, knowing that would only net us adult back pain patients 
• We started doing 3-4 Perfect Storm 🌪 and other Pregnancy 🤰 and Pediatric 👶 related workshops and talks every single month in the office, at other pediatric-focused businesses, and anywhere we could 

Put simply, we went ALL IN. Burn the boats 🛶 , no looking back!  

I'll leave you with that breakdown for now my chiro homies and friends!

Please take the time to watch the video 🍿 in its entirety, as it breaks this down step-by-step and really also at the end illustrates how to NOT get stuck in Back Pain by taking approach #1 or #2... and gives you the exact path forward right into that kick-ass Pediatric-Focused Practice of the Future! 

 

Every Kid Counts, 

Dr. Tony Ebel & Team PX