Sherman Shares - April 2011
Franklin
Park Chiropractor Reveals:
47 Reasons for Visiting your Chiropractor
an Interview with Frank J. Hahn, D.C. '04
Who is your audience for this book?
This book is a quick-tip guide geared toward the lay person, the current or future patients who come into your office. The guide starts out from pregnancy and giving birth, moves on to newborns through seniors and addresses something for everyone in between.
We take a common experience in life and describe how it affects the body, then give a tip or suggestion that will help. The overall message shared in this guide is this: life happens, and everyday experiences tend to break down your body. Your chiropractor can help your body function better.
Why did this book need to be written?
So many people out there don’t know when it’s time — or even why — to visit a chiropractor. This book shares 47 of those reasons. Of course, there are many more reasons. Many books have been written to help the chiropractor build his practice, but very few books exist to help guide a lay person to learn specific reasons to visit a chiropractor.
What are the misconceptions people have about chiropractic?
One misconception is that chiropractors only deal with back and neck aches. People also wonder if a chiropractor can fix specific conditions they are experiencing. I’ve learned through experience that if you properly educate a person about what chiropractors do, you’ll get a response similar to this: "Oh, that’s what chiropractors do" or "I never really thought about it that way." For me to build the practice of my dreams, I need everyone I contact to know why it’s important to have their spines checked and what benefits they can expect.
What are the most interesting excuses you hear from patients?
When I properly explain chiropractic to people, I really don’t get excuses. They are usually excited to begin care. Some folks do drop out of care along the path, and I try really hard to follow up with these people to find out the reason. The most common response is, "My back or neck ache went away (or didn’t go away)." In that person’s mind, I either succeeded or failed at my job. When I hear this reason for dropping out of care, I am disappointed because I know that either way, I failed to educate that person properly.
When this type of person does come back into our office, I know I must explain chiropractic in a different way than I did last time, but of course, I need to maintain the same underlying message.
When I speak with chiropractic students, I always tell them to do all they can to improve their communication skills. Develop the ability to explain chiropractic in many different ways so that everyone "gets it." This is just one of the keys to having a successful practice.
Why 47 reasons and not 50 or 25?
I feel these 47 reasons are enough to have people think about the actions they do every day which may cause their spinal bones to misalign, and of course, we know this is bad for their bodies. I also want people to take one more step and relate to the idea that for activities of daily life, they should have their spines checked.
What can D.C.s do to alleviate fear or mistrust of chiropractic?
The number-one thing we must do as a profession is become more visible to the public, more mainstream. Think about the large companies of today. Whenever I think of Nike, I automatically associate sneakers. I trust they’ll make sneakers. Whenever I think of McDonalds, I know they’ll make hamburgers. Whether either of these things is good or bad for you is not the point; the public instantly knows what to expect when they hear those words.
What do you suppose the public thinks of when they hear the words "subluxation," "nerve pressure," "misaligned spinal bones?" Even the word "chiropractic" can bring confusion. We do not have TV shows like ER, House or The Doctors. There is no show on TV called "The Chiropractors" to help educate the public. It’s up to you and me to start making chiropractic a household word and giving the public a positive link or an association.
With so many amazing, creative thinkers in our profession, I know we can figure out ways of making this happen. With technology, we can reach so many people in the click of a button. I’m constantly thinking about new ways to optimize the benefits of the technology. Web sites, believe it or not, are becoming outdated; Web 2.0/3.0 is the current technology. Social media outlets reach billions of people.
What’s next and where should we expect to see you?
I’m about to launch a radio program on Blog-Talk Radio. Our office created a YouTube channel that’s being developed, and of course, we have an office Facebook fan page, Twitter account and more. But I won’t be leaving real life behind. We still venture into our community all the time with our chiropractic booths at 15-30+ community events each year. And despite all the technology I do embrace, I wrote this book knowing there are still many people who want to get away from the computer and enjoy sitting down to read a book .
A word of advice or inspiration for your peers?
If you have the ability to do something positive for the profession, do it!
Sherman
College of Chiropractic
P.O. Box 1452,
Spartanburg, SC 29304
www.sherman.edu -
800-849-8771
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