Limited Scope = Limited Potential Broad Scope = GREAT Potential – Part 1

Limited Scope = Limited Potential Broad Scope = GREAT Potential – Part 1

March 8th, 2010 // 7:00 am @ Thomas A Owen III // 2 Comments

I was in a meeting yesterday where one of my business partners brought several chiropractic publications from 1961 to the meeting to share some of the articles within the magazines.

The articles showed that the chiropractors from nearly 50 years ago were fighting some of the same fights we face today. It was quite interesting to see in one article where chiropractic was striving to be included into the initiation of medicare that was starting at that time. We all know how well that program has worked out but isn’t it interesting that inclusion of a new federal health plan is at the top of many chiropractors priorities in our world today?

We could certainly expand on that particular example but I would like to share with you what I perceived the articles from the 60’s showed as the one glaring difference from those chiropractors and our world today. They were playing on a different field than the D.C.’s of today. We may share some of the same old same old challenges but they were in a much stronger position to fight them.

You see when I glanced through the old magazines I saw articles on the treatment of various conditions. I never saw one article on the treatment of pain. The fact is that the last 30 years has seen us slowly but surely narrow our scope of treatment to the musculoskeletal box. That is partially due to 3rd party compensation programs but regardless of the cause we now find ourselves within a generation of chiropractors that can not relate with what the profession was built on for the first 80 years (which was a time of a much tougher fight for establishment than anything you face today).

My father is known by many as a chiropractic legend. Whether he is or not matters not. However, the tens of thousands of chiropractors he has helped over the last 55 years is a direct result of why he became a chiropractor in the first place. He didn’t become a chiropractor because his neck or back hurt. A chiropractor on different occasions saved him from certain surgery. First when his eyes were crossed from a childhood accident a chiropractor from Cocoa Beach , Florida solved the issue and then secondly when he was scheduled to have his intestines removed when he was 18 due to severe cramping the chiropractor once again helped him and he has been using those intestines for the last 60 years.

My uncle George Platt was literally given up to die with severe asthma. A chiropractor from Orlando, Fl addressed his problems and Uncle George has gone onto a long productive life. Those were the reasons my father became a chiropractor. What he saw in chiropractic was the chance to help sick people get well not get out of pain.

I can’t stop here but due to space we will have to hold off until next time to conclude this most vital point that we are discussing. I will look forward to our next visit as I hope you will as well.

Have you felt the effects of a limited scope in your practice?

Category : Blog &Featured Work &Practice Principles