Patients are complicated; people in general are complicated. Patients come into the office all the time with numerous and unique problems. Are you doing them a disservice by trying to treat everything or should you stick to what you are good at and let other professionals deal with the rest? Are you as a chiropractor afraid of a second opinion, you shouldn’t be.

A chronic neck patient walks into the office, right shoulder and arm pain. Most of the time, before jumping to an MRI to determine if a herniated disc is present, we may treat the patient a few times in order to try to reduce or limit the symptoms as is noted in most respected guidelines. If symptoms are then not reduced, I will normally refer the patient to their primary care provider because I feel that if an MRI is needed then their primary care provider should be involved in the decision making process.

Does it scare you that you will lose a patient if you send them to another provider? It really shouldn’t, if the patient finds value in your care or your opinion, they will be back. I think a lot of chiropractors see a patient that walks out the door as a missed opportunity, but you may not have been able to help the patient in the first place. The fact that a lot of doctors cannot swallow their pride enough to help the patient as opposed to their bottom line is a big problem.

Headache patient walks in, we treat her three times, in fact the benefits from care were beyond wonderful but after about a week the symptoms never completely went away. She sought care from her primary care and ended up having an MRI, she has multiple health concerns that I was not even going to begin to tackle. Other providers were going to be able to take better care of the patient in her current health situation. Did I do wrong by this patient, absolutely not; she is now by biggest fan for being truthful and not trying to convince her for a prolonged treatment plan. She will be better off with the course of care that she is currently on. Will she return in the future, I hope so, but I can rest well at night knowing that the ultimate problem is being addressed.

The longer I go into practice; I’m starting to find out that I am efficient at treating certain types of conditions. If those conditions walk in the door, the comfort level is high. Another specific condition walks in; I may fold my hand a little faster than I would because I know that other professionals are better at treating things like this. I’m trying to be a part of the healthcare picture, not the whole picture.

Medications, surgeries and other providers are all involved in cases. As soon as chiropractors can figure out that we are not out there to cure everything or that everyone that walks through the door is going to benefit from chiropractic care then the patient will benefit the most.

I will concede that chiropractors are looked at the outcast of the healthcare community, but if we as a profession can start to help the people that we are able to help in an efficient manner and to direct patients to where they will get the best care and outcomes the profession as a whole will get a much better reputation over time.

So if you fear second opinions or other healthcare professionals, you need to look yourself in the eye and determine if you are doing what’s in the best interest of the patient? Or are you doing this for your bottom-line.

Don’t fear second opinions, in fact embrace them.

As some people know, I have not always been working for my own office and essentially calling the shots on what happens on a day-to-day basis. That year that I spent working under the command of another office was tough mentally but I feel that it made me a better person, chiropractor and business owner.

I played in a golf tournament this past weekend with my brother-in-law. Going into the event, we looked at our flight and saw who was in it. We made a determination that we were not going to get involved in the Calcutta, it really didn’t matter the amount, and we’re not going to put any more money into the weekend. He and I are known to be a little competitive, while we did not win the event or even our flight, we would have been just fine on betting on ourselves.

Kristina and I talk about the topic, what if I never had gone out and started my own practice. It is well known in our household, that if I didn’t do it I would probably be out of the profession all together. The fun and desire for the profession faded fast in that first year.

I’m not going to tell you that since we start the business that it has been all peaches and rainbows but for the most part, it has been one of the best bets that we have taken. The grind of running my own business and practice can be taxing and sleep can be at a premium at times, but I’m a firm believer that if you want to make it in the profession, you need to be able to do it your own way.

There are young chiropractors that want to work as associates, there are some chiropractors that don’t want the responsibility of being a business owner and there are some people that want to call the shots. I’m one of those people; I want to be in control of how my day-to-day operations go. Sure, I will admit, there have been mistakes but my happiness level has been higher than ever since that first year out of school.

For those young chiropractors out there, just know that just because you are stuck in a rut working as an associate hardly making ends meet trying to pay off student loans and attempting to live at the same, it will get better. Take your associateship and try to learn as much as possible, become a VERY good adjuster and try to figure out how to run a business. The process is not fun, it’s not glamorous at times but the learning curve is much better when you decide to go out on your own.

Have a little faith in yourself and make it happen. The day will come that you get fed up working for someone else, maybe it won’t but it does for most. Just know that reach out and find mentors, people will gladly walk you through the process, ask questions and your will find a deeper appreciation for the work and life than you can imagine.

I will never forget, Kristina, my in-laws and I were all sitting in our living room trying to determine an action plan roughly 6 years ago. My mother-in-law looks at me and tells me, “so what if you fail, you have to be happy and try things your own way.”

In other words, bet on yourself and see what happens. Odds are if you are willing to put in the work and take a few risks, the process will pay off many times over. Believe in yourself.

P.S. If you ever see me in a golf tournament, I’m not going to bet on myself, but feel free, we were awfully cheap.

I don’t have a lot of vices in life, but golf is one of the few. I don’t hunt, fish or travel all that much but golf is the one thing that lets me escape from the day to day obligations of running the business and offices.

The first couple of month of the golf season, I was playing probably the best I have ever played but the last couple of weeks, the wheels have seemed to have fallen off. This is very emblematic of running a business. In fact the entire game of golf relates pretty well to business ownership and a chiropractic practice.

One day you may absolutely crush it, patients come in the door all day, the phone is ringing and payments are trickling in. The next day we sit around just hoping that the phone will ring. For every busy day, there might be a day that the phone is idle. If this doesn’t scream my golf game I don’t know what does. I have zero desire to be a single digit handicap on the golf course other than for pride, but I have been getting really close recently, but the last two weeks have been a little bit of a set back as I have had a little bit of a case of the yips.

Stepping over a shot or a putt for the last couple of weeks has been kind of nerve-racking as I’m not entirely sure where the ball will go. I know if you talk to anyone that has played golf or been in business for any length of time, you are going to have your moments of ups and downs and if you let those moments define you. You won’t last very long in the business endeavor.

You will question yourself, whether it be a slow day when the phone just doesn’t ring or a patient that is not improving like you think they should. The thought that things will not always go the way you planned is a part of business and golf that I have come to adapt to.

My chiropractic school classmates and I have frequent conversations about life and our own practices from time to time. Questions get answered and asked about all aspects. On the golf course if I spray a ball into the rough, it never fails that I will have a hard time finding it, but if whomever I’m playing with hits one into the rough, I will be able to find that ball with no problem.

The office has ups and downs, patients will come into the office and say “not very busy today.” Well, that is an interesting comment, because 15 minutes earlier there wouldn’t have been a seat available.

Whether you hit a ball into the water or have a complete flop of a day, just remember the next day or hole can always be a different story. Things that collegues and friends ask may be painfully obviously in your mind but in theirs it may not click and things work both ways. You may be able to find everyone’s golf ball on the course but yours may be lost for good. Have a friend that can help you find your way, as everyone will eventually need this.

As the summer continues, my yips may come and go, the practice will continue to have its ups and down, but just remember your friends and family are there to help you find your way/ball. You will have ups and down, hour by hour, day by day, week by week and month by month but keep going, keep swinging and eventually that number will go up in patients and hopefully down on the handicap side if you keep going on a consistent basis.

So, when you take an 8 on one hole, you move onto the next and a birdie may be in order.

When I first started writing this blog, I wanted to gear it towards young chiropractors that are trying to take control of their lives, both in practice and finances. Whether that be student loans, retirement accounts or just simple practice building tips that you didn’t have to sell your soul to the devil in order to grow a successful practice.

I sometimes feel as if I am on an island all by myself in the chiropractic profession as I feel that most young chiropractors don’t actually understand how to attack student loans and all of the options that are available to you in this adventure.

Personal finance has been an obsession for me for the past couple of months, I have been reading a lot of blogs and articles that show how the path to financial independence can be achieved. You don’t need to make a million dollars a year in order to make this happen, you just need to take a few steps onto this path to freedom.

The article that peaked my interest this week was about an orthodontist in Utah that has over a million dollars in student loan debt. He makes roughly $250K a year and makes a monthly payment of roughly $1600 a month to student loans, that may sound like a lot but his interest accrues at $130 dollars a day. He will pay that amount for the next 25 years at which point the remaining amount will be forgiven. Early estimates indicate that the amount forgiven will be roughly 2 million dollars, which would leave him a tax bill of roughly $700K. Now I don’t agree with this method at all but if you actually run the numbers this may end up being a pretty good deal for him, as he would end up paying roughly 1.2 million back. Honestly, that would be about what he would have paid back over a standard repayment plan.

The reason I bring up this story, is because most people on income based repayment will end up paying more money back then if they were to just suck it up for a couple of years and get aggressive in paying back your student loans.

Just being able to plan is a huge advantage, my financial advisor recently passed way and I have been delving into the world of personal finance more than I ever thought I would. Mutual funds, retirement accounts and other such terms have become common discussion in our home recently. I think my CPA thinks I’m crazy for all of the things that are going on and the questions that I ask but she helps guide me through some of these things.

Young people just want things NOW and not have to put the effort into the journey, I’m as guilty as the next person but all of this thinking and planning has essentially put everything into perspective for me. An article in MONEY magazine recently indicated that you need to save into a retirement account for roughly 13 years before your money actually starts to make money for you, up to that point, you are essentially just saving money into an account, but after 13 years that compounding interest starts to take effect and your money will start working for you and for itself.

My brother in law has got me hooked on a couple of podcasts and one of the quotes that came from a CFP on the show was: You wanna know how to get rich? Don’t have any debt is the first step. Whether that is student loans or business debt, mortgages don’t typically count against you but if you don’t have a mortgage, that is even more money in the bank.

So to all of the young chiropractors out there, I’m begging you to at least examine your situation and try to start taking some proactive steps to getting rid of your student loans, you don’t want to be 45-50 years old with a massive student loan debt number over you and then have to turn around and pay taxes on a bill that was just forgiven and that’s to say that the current rules stay the same, there are rumbling that the system is going to have to change. If you are waiting for the federal government to forgive your student loans, good for you but I’m not going to hold my breath.

I have refinanced my loans twice and have gotten my interest down from 6.8% to 3.75%, I hope to have my student loans paid off in the next 12-18 months. If you have any questions or would like to look into refinancing, click on the link below or send me a message and I can answer more specific questions.

http://refer.credible.com/2C6pJM

May 1st marked the sixth year that I have been in practice and April 19th was six years since I graduated. These milestones make you sit back and think where I was all those years ago and how much more I can grow and learn in the years to come.

Most people that start a business, come up with a business plan and set out specific goals and objectives that they wish to meet over the course of say 1,3 and 5 years. I’m not going to sit here and tell you that I don’t have goals in my mind and some written down but I have never had to write a business plan that would outline these goals to anyone other than Kristina and myself.

I have stated this before, I am very much a numbers person and I constantly look at the numbers that are involved in the practice and in my mind I am always trying to do better from one quarter to the next. I have a weekly number that is my “goal,” for the week but I almost always hit that number. I used to look month to month, but with the changing dynamics of life and days off, it can be kind of difficult to compare one month to the next, so I go with quarters as it is a bigger snapshot.

Everyday I show up to the office with the intention of helping people feel better or performing physicals that allow individuals to continue driving. I feel that when I unlock the doors, I am there to aid you in your journey. I write about this because I do not deviate to far from what guidelines and my education has taught me.

I have had patients leave for other chiropractors because I don’t have certain therapies. No my offices don’t have lasers, decompression tables, massage therapy or stem cell injections. We don’t have a lot of products to sell in the office, maybe some Biofreeze, TENS units or a few pillows but not much else.

Some doctors are out there looking for what is going to make the practice the most money or how many people can we see on a daily basis. I have been tempted, don’t get me wrong to try new things in the office to try and draw more patients through the door on a daily basis, but I have yet to jump on that train. I have constantly told myself that chiropractic was founded on the adjustment and that is what I am going to stick with as my main form of treatment. Don’t get me wrong, I perform other therapies in the office and generalized stretching and exercises but if you are looking for high dollar, new age technology when you walk through the door, you may be sorely mistaken.

Mechanical traction is performed regularly; ultrasound, combo ultrasound and electric stimulation are also done daily. I get asked if I will be adding other therapies and I can definitively say that I am not in the foreseeable future.

I never thought that I would be this way six years ago, but as the years go, I continue to tell myself to stick to my principles and have a purpose. The purpose is to continue to help people on a daily basis and to not do excessive treatment just for the sole purpose of adding money to the bottom line.

There are chiropractors out there that see more patients and they may have fancier equipment and gadgets but are they looking out for your best interest or are they looking out for their pocketbook.

While the practice is doing just fine and patients continue to come through the door, the backbone on the offices is that we stand on the purpose of helping people get better as soon as possible. We look to get people better, out the door and back to their lives. If this is a recipe that you as a patient are looking for we look forward to working with you in the present and future.

PS. Happy Mother’s Day to all

When I get dressed every morning, my wardrobe consists of about 4-5 different colors of pants and about every color of polo or pullover that you can imagine. Literally, I think I have about every color that Nike and SportTec have in their portfolio. But I really only have two colors of shoes, black and brown. I really can’t justify having other colors, as I would never wear them.

Roughly two years ago, I purchased a pair of brown/tan Allen Edmonds shoes from Redman’s in Kearney. Randy had been sitting on this pair for some time and I had honestly never heard of Allen Edmonds shoes, but ever since I bought that pair of shoes, I have been obsessed with them. The only problem is that I can only wear them with navy, brown or khaki pants and you can only do that so many times a week.

Now, when I wake up in the morning, I try to tell myself that today is going to be a good day just to put myself in the right state of mind. It does really help, doesn’t matter how tired I am when I wake up at 5AM but just telling myself that the day is going to be good can make a huge difference.

But when I put those Allen Edmond shoes on, I genuinely feel that I could float. I think they make me feel like I can do anything. They put the finishing touch on the outfit that I am wearing for the day and when I look down at those shoes, I smile a little bit.

I don’t know if a state of mind can make your day seem to be busier or more productive but that is exactly what I have noticed when I wear the Allen Edmonds. The phone seems to ring more, my attitude is better and my outlook on practice and life are drastically improved. Like I said, I don’t know if I can relate this to a pair of shoes but it does seem to be quite a coincidence when I do slip them on.

They are very comfortable to wear all day and are extremely durable. I was little hesitant when I first bought them because I did not want to have to worry about scuffing them up on a daily basis. I think I first bought them to wear with a navy suit to a wedding, but they have turned into much more than that for me.

So if you ever come into the office and see me wearing a pair of lace up brown Allen Edmond shoes, just know that my state of mind might be in the clouds on that given day because it is going to be a good day. I have told the girls at the office that they need to be aware of the phone when I am wearing my Allen Edmonds.

I whole heartedly believe in karma and I am going to keep riding the wave with these shoes. My next goal is to get a pair of black (I actually had purchased a pair of black but they did not fit quite right).

Dressing the part and feeling good about your self is a good step in starting each morning. I am starting to become a believer that patients can feel your mental state of mind and will flock in when you are feeling your best or when you least expect it.

So get up in the morning, tell yourself it’s going to be a great day, get a smile on your face and get in the right state of mind because when I wear my Allen Edmonds, look out cause I am going to conquer the world.
Now, if you run across a pair of black wholecut Allen Edmund shoe (13D in my case), by all means try it on, feel it and see if your state of mind changes, I guarantee you it will.

People present to the office with numerous different complaints throughout the year. Whether it is headaches, knee pain or generalized back pain, I try to offer sound advice and care for everyone that walks into the office. This office was a little bit of a strange one from the patient care stand point, as a couple people needed to be referred out and some unusual requests were being made that I don’t get to hear all that often.

At National where I went to school, we were trained to be a provider of first contact. In Illinois, chiropractors have the ability to do lab work, along with other aspects that you would expect to see from a primary care provider. While Nebraska has essentially the same scope of practice, I choose not to practice in this manner as I feel that there are other providers out there that are far more qualified than myself to treat certain conditions.

A couple of cases this week reiterated the fact that I have been trained in this manner and that I do have the knowledge and ability to guide you through care. Abdominal pain for the past 6-8 months is not a normal symptom, the patient was presenting for back pain and it was confirmed that this was not connected. He has seen numerous surgeons but did not want to step on the toes of his PCP (primary care physician). I had no problem in helping direct him to a group of providers that would be able to get him a straight answer that does not necessarily result in a surgery.

Upper back, left arm and chest pain is never a good idea. Trust me that presented this week as well. Blood pressure and numbers were relatively stable while he was in the office but he did not necessarily have a mechanism of injury. Normally when someone presents with pain, they know what they did to cause the pain, if the pain presents for no reason you are normally a little more aware of the situation as there may be an underlying condition. The patient was sent to his PCP in order to investigate this.

I normally default to send patients to their PCP in order to get a problem resolved quickly, as the primary normally knows the patient much more in detail than a specialist would and if they do need to get sent out from there, the PCP can normally get the patient in much quicker than I can. If I call a specialists office, I normally get scoffed at, so I default to the PCP and let them handle it.

Lastly, a patient that I have treated for some time, has been having knee pain for awhile. Nothing seems to be helping the pain and it seemed as though she was fed up with the situation. After talking to the patient, she was going to be more comfortable seeing her PCP and I was perfectly fine with this. If I have treated you numerous times and the pain is either worse or no better then another approach should be taken. The patient trusts you as you are not going to drag the treatment out with no significant help and I feel better because the patient may finally get an answer to the pain.

These cases are prime examples as to why I enjoy doing DOT/CDL physicals so much, because it allows me to use my diagnostic abilities on a regular basis. I take blood pressure daily, listen to hearts and lungs, feel pulses and have you put people through an exam while performing this type of physical, so if a chiropractic patient presents with symptoms that do not necessary follow the typical presentation, I have the ability to investigate the problem with a level of confidence. My schooling and extra training give me the peace of mind that I can piece together problems and if I cannot, I have the sense to get you to someone that will be able to help.

I write this article, with the purpose of indicating to patients and future patients that sometimes treatment may take awhile. Acupuncture rarely works with just one or two treatments, chiropractic may require a few follow up visits. I am not doing this for the money grab, I am doing this for the patients best interest and following sound medical guidelines that indicate that this may be necessary in order to get the best results, but just know that the offices have the ability to properly diagnosis problems that may be beyond the scope of chiropractic care and that we will do our best to direct you in a direction that is in the best interest of everyone involved to resolve the problems in a timely manner.

This past weekend, the Nebraska Chiropractic Physicians Association spring convention was hosted in Omaha.  It was the first time in 6 years that I have not gone to a convention.  Our continuing education hours reset in August as well and convention is where most chiropractors get their hours.  I have my required hours for the two year time frame, but I’m the guy that worries about, what if the hours that I have somehow get disqualified?

I genuinely could not justify going to convention this past weekend when I have all of my continuing education hours and I am going to be out of the office from Wednesday to Saturday this week.  So all day Friday I felt like the bad kid skipping class.  Ask my classmates, I never missed class, but that sense of guilt is really hard to break.

As I have stated in the past, I am on a mission to pay off my student loans.  Every month I look at my bank account and make sure that the money is all in order for the automatic withdrawal to go smoothly.  This worry will eventually go away when the loan is paid off but it is still a stress point for Kristina and I.  We have made a massive dent in the amount that I owe and the goal is to have this paid off sooner rather than later.

Every week and month, I know exactly how many patients I need to see in order to make the offices go.  I take this on a week by week basis as it seems to be a day to day goal as opposed to looking at the numbers at the end of the month.  This might sound crazy but it is one of the few things that make my mind tick and work like it does.  So, I worry when Wednesday and Thursday roll around and take note that it has been a slow week.

Every week, the number is attained and we continue to keep going.  I have started to lessen on this, as I seem to worry a lot about something that is attained nearly every week.  If it is not met, the next week makes up for the slight lag.  Unfortunately, this stresses me out but it has been lessening with time.

Heck with the winter weather, I worry about not only getting to the given office on a day but how is the snow going to get scooped off the sidewalks.  I guess this is just how I am wired, I hate it some days and love it the next.  It allows me to keep accountability with myself and others.

Whether it be weather, travel, patient numbers, student loans or other things that seem to get me worked up, the office does seem to click along well with no major hiccups on a day to day basis.  You would think that my blood pressure would be through the roof, but surprisingly it is good up to this point as well. 

So, while I try to figure out how to direct my stress and worries (summer is a little better as I have the golf course to direct some of my energy), I will continue to show up and try to make a difference every day.  When I am working, the stresses are minimal but try not to catch me in that weak moment as I can and will fret about the smallest of details if I allow myself to.

Business has been going well, patients are getting improvements and my blood pressure seems to be in check, so life is good at the moment and we hope to continue this momentum into the future.

My parents have always instilled in me that half the battle in life is just showing up.  When I was in undergrad at UNK, we did attendance checks so there was no real significant chance of me missing class.  While at National, I hardly ever missed a class.  The very first test that I ever took at National, I epically failed.  I started to question myself and if I was cut out for this profession, but little did I know I was not alone in my feelings.

I remember calling my parents and Kristina, both were a sense of calm for me at the time.  The one thing that my dad has always told me and he told me at that time, is that if you show up to class, you will at least get a C.  While this is not necessarily true, the principle holds true.

The last couple weeks the weather has been up and down in central Nebraska and the daily schedule can get a little crazy due to travel conditions and people not wanting to get out in the weather.  The one constant with our offices is that we have not missed a day and patients always seem to reward you for that decision.

On Friday, Minden Public Schools ended up canceling school due to icy conditions.  I drove to Minden from Kearney at 6:15 in the morning and was ready to see patients by 7.  It ended up being a crazy busy day.  A snow storm was coming into central Nebraska overnight and I had almost zero anticipation that I would make the trek to Arnold the next morning based on the forecasts.  I woke up at 5 AM to look out the window to see that the forecasts were largely wrong.  I checked the road conditions and it was doable, so I made the 80 mile trip.

My patient bases have largely rewarded me for this, if you are present and consistent, people will start to take notice and reward you for the travels.  Arnold weather over the last month has not been all that great, but I was able to make the trek and patients always manage to make their way into the office.  It’s funny when they walk in and while they have been surprised that I am there, they are greatly appreciative that I am.

If I closed the office every time I didn’t feel well, the office would be closed quite a bit.  As the years go, I have noticed, the days that you don’t feel the best will almost always be the busiest days and the days that you feel like you could conquer the world are the days the phone stagnates.

It is always interesting to me when you speak to patients that come from towns that have numerous chiropractors in the town that they live in and one of the main things that I hear from them is that they know when I am available and when I am in the office, it is fairly easy to make an appointment work in their schedule. 

I have started to think about some of the intricacies of practice and this is a major theme that I feel gets overlooked, just showing up when you say that you will be there and be consistent with it.  People know what to expect and when to expect it.  The office will try to accommodate just about anything within reason but most requests are not crazy because the hours and services are basically known before the person even asks.

The moral of this rant is, maybe my parents weren’t all that crazy when they said half the battle in life is just showing up.  If you are consistent, show up and work hard when you are present, the rewards will be vast.  Whether you are a college student, graduate student, new business owner or working for the man just show up, continue to show up.  People will notice and good things will happen, it may take awhile but it will be noticed.

Karma is a great thing and being present can help the rewards come your way.

This post is going to be more of a rant than informative.  Patients come into the office with numerous complaints and everyone in a healthcare field can relate to things like this, the problem that I have with this is what exactly does your insurance cover.

There are certain insurance that cover only spinal complaints, I am okay with that for the most part, heck I have even reached a point that if these people come in with a shoulder, knee, elbow, or wrist complaint I will tell them to seek care elsewhere for these complaints as their insurance will pay for such services.

At our office we are perfectly capable of taking care of a wide variety of musculoskeletal complaints, including extremities, ultrasound, electric stim, diathermy, and acupuncture/dry needling are available to patients that desire such services. 

The main reason that I write this post: early this week, I had a patient that has tennis elbow, lateral epicondylitis is the more formal term, she has been going to physical therapy for the condition.  Don’t get me wrong, I have no problem with her seeking care with another provider, but when I asked what services that she was receiving, she indicated that she was icing, ultrasound, and stretches along with a brace that she is supposed to be wearing while at work.

I got to thinking …I can do all of these services in my office.  I refuse to get into the argument of which profession you should use because I send a fair share of patients to physical therapy for things that I do not have the knowledge or time to take care of in our office.

Chiropractic is an ever evolving profession but at what point will we finally determine that extremity care is well within our scope of practice and most chiropractors are perfectly capable of handling these types of complaints and should be reimbursed by medical insurances.

Now I understand that there are chiropractors out there that do not have the knowledge or belief that they can help with these conditions.  I am not appealing to those individuals, I am appealing to those people that have a say in the insurance industry to allow chiropractors to perform services that are well within the scope of practice and are taught on an extensive basis in chiropractic school.

At my alma mater, we learned things that I may never use: labs, pelvic exams, and prostate exams.  I don’t plan on using these services because I feel that there are other professionals that are more experienced with these services.  I know how to spot a concussion but I don’t know enough about the protocol to determine if someone is safe enough to return to activity.

If there are chiropractors that are educated and experienced in these services by all means, they should be covered and encouraged to provide these services.  But insurance companies need to get up to date on what different professions actually are knowledgeable and educated in.

As I said earlier, I am not discouraging other professions from continuing to provide the services that they are allowed to provide but chiropractors need to start to get on the same page so that the profession can move forward to provide services that most chiropractors know how to treat but are not reimbursed for from different insurance companies.

Another quick thought that will enrage some people in my field of work: I believe that chiropractors should have a very limited medication list that they are able to prescribe, mainly a muscle relaxant that will allow some patients to get a little relief as opposed to running into the clinics or urgent care to get medications, where most of the providers roll their eyes and send people on their way, but proper education and training needs to be available.