The longer I have been in practice, the more I find myself falling into a level of practice that makes me focus on conditions that I feel comfortable treating and knowing that I will get the desired results that both myself and the patients expect. The problem with practicing in Central Nebraska, you are going to see all sorts of conditions. I have classmates that have a very narrow practice area, but they live in large, diverse metropolitan areas with plenty of population. Someone may come in with shoulder pain, I do an examination; I make the determination that this problem is something that I am not going to be able to help with. Not that I can’t help resolve some of the pain associated with a rotator cuff tear, but most patients are going to want to get an orthopedic consultation for optimum treatment and advise.

Just last week, I had an older female present to the office. She walked in with a walker and could hardly put any pressure on her left hip. She had never been to a chiropractor. I did what exam I could, but it was ultimately decided that she was going to need a set of x-rays and possibly seek care outside of out office.

There are some things that come into the office; that I have no business trying to treat. This is the premise of getting comfortable in your own skin. I’m figuring out what I’m good at and I stick with those specific things.

My business is one of the passions in my life and I have always said that I don’t have a lot of vices in my life. I enjoy what I do for a living, I really do, I play quite a bit of golf when the weather is nice and I have always collected and enjoyed vintage baseball cards. When I take a day off, odds are it is related to one of these topics or family commitments; I don’t take R&R days as I find my job to be fairly therapeutic for me.

My mind wonders quite a bit during the day but it is generally about these topics and my family.
When a patient comes into the office and I can’t help, I ponder it. I lose sleep over it. I wonder about it. Could I have done anything different to help the pain, increase function for the person or to improve their quality of life.

I have been performing insurance reviews for the past 6 years, do I like doing these, they’re okay, but it allows me to stay up to date with the current insurance guidelines and what is specifically allowed by insurance companies. Staying up to date on the guidelines is wonderful but it does help fund my golf habit and it doesn’t really affect my evening time with my family.

I also obsess on the business and finances of both my life and business. I recently paid off my student loans after a couple years of sacrifice, but it’s crazy how much of a stress relief it can be when you have one major chip taken off of your shoulder. Seriously, if you are a young chiropractor and want to feel like you are starting to get ahead, get your student loans paid off and feel the burden get lifted off, it’s a wonderful thing.

As I started with this article, I am what I am and I would like to think that the people in my life have come to realize this because I’m starting to recognize it every day. I like to treat headaches, most type of back pain and I love doing DOT Physicals. I follow the guidelines when I work, I stay in my lane and don’t venture to far away from that. Most people that come in enjoy the fact that I don’t sugar coat things and I’m going to make the process as simple as I can.

Not a lot of people read these articles, but it’s almost therapeutic for me, in the sense that it allows me to put some of the random thoughts that run through my mind on paper. Golf, baseball cards, family and chiropractic can pretty much sum up my life, so if you have any interest, I’d love to talk about any of them.

Lastly, if you have student loans, seriously consider refinancing as rates continue to be pretty low: http://refer.credible.com/tHX6Tp