Printable version

Chiropractic and the Lost Art- Part 1

When speaking with doctors about the most effective and ethical ways to get patients to stay, pay and refer; Touch, Tell, Ask and Teach (TTAT) is without a doubt one of the most important and life changing arts I can teach them.

I was speaking to a few hundred doctors and C.A.'s earlier this year and I said, "Do you remember how powerful it was the first time a doctor laid their hands on your spine and told you everything but your mother's maiden name?" I looked into a sea of blank stares. I figured maybe they just didn't understand the question so I rephrased it and asked, "Do you remember the first time a doctor touched your spine and told you everything else that was going on in your body such as digestive problems, memory problems, PMS Etc.? Again I saw no signs of life. As I continued to query I found that only 8 of the people in the room had such an experience.

At that time I heard a deep rumbling sound which was either my stomach as I was feeling nauseas or more likely it was D.D. B.J. and the rest of the greats turning over in their graves!

Since that occasion I have spoken with many groups and even one of my favorite college presidents and I now realize that the ability to touch another person's spine and tell them what is going on in their life is not even taught in chiropractic schools and is without a doubt the greatest lost art in our profession.

If you want to blow peoples minds and help them realize in a matter of moments that they in fact are in the right place. If you want people to stay, pay and refer without using the treacherous scare tactics then please read on!

TTAT is all about helping the patient experience in their body the chiropractic story. They say a picture paints a thousand words. Getting patients to experience the chiropractic story in their body communicates a thousand pictures.

TTAT can be used in so many ways. I will touch on the basics in this article and go into more detail in a following article. From my perspective every time we touch a patient's spine we need to do some version of TTAT. Whether we are doing our first examination, our hundredth adjustment or our tenth re-exam we always use TTAT when we lay our hands on their spine.

Basically what we are telling our patients when we do TTAT is:

1. This is what I found

2. This is what it means

3. This is what it means to you or is this going on with you?

4. This is how what I do will help or give them a coaching tip

It is so simple you can let the new patient absolutely know they are in the right place within one minute. You can have profound daily interactions with your patients in which you take them from in-one to innate over a lifetime in 20-30 seconds per visit. You can help them realize the value of continuing care each and every time you touch them.

Let's discuss the first contact you have with your patient or the examination. I believe it is an incredible waste of time to do a review of systems during the history. I teach my doctors to do a great history (which from my perspective can be done in minutes) and then to get their hands on their patients spine!

I have doctors tell me all the time that they always start at the neck, or that they always start at the sacrum, or even worse they always start with a blood pressure test! My question to you is what is your patient's greatest concern? That's right it is their chief complaint, and although you and I realize that it may have nothing to do with where the subluxation is, if it is their greatest concern it needs to be ours also! So clearly if Jill comes in and her greatest concern is her headaches the first thing I want to do is ask her where her head hurts. And then I want to BLOW HER MIND with my expertise. I want her to know within the first 60 seconds that she is in the right place. I want to see her jaw drop and her socks get blown off her feet onto the floor and I want it to happen within the first 60 seconds!

I live in Hawaii so I teach my docs to become the "Big Kahuna!" Trust me, if you want your patients to stay pay and refer. If you want them to appreciate you for the skilled doctor that you are and you want them to take responsibility for their health; become the big Kahuna, predict what is going to happen, tell them more about them than they told you and they will appreciate you for the master of your art that you really are.

Here is a basic scenario during the examination. "Jill please show me exactly where your head hurts. Right there over your left eye? (Touch the area.) Let me ask you a question, does it ever hurt along this area on your head (right over the greater occipital nerve.) You know Jill often times if people have subluxations that are causing these types of headaches they will have a tender spot right about...(palpate the suboccipitals/C1 area.) right here. Jill is it tender right there?" Of course Jill says yep it is very tender! "How about over on this side is it as tender there? No? But it is very tender right over here? Jill I think we have found the underlying cause of your problem!"

How long did that take? Seconds! And Every time you do it you will see your patient's shoulders drop, they will take a deep breath and they will know they are finally in the right place to get the care that they need!

I now want to make the picture bigger; I now want Jill to recognize the she has headaches that are caused by subluxations, which are caused by mental/emotional, chemical and physical stress. I want her to realize that her entire life is dependant on a clear functioning nerve system and that it is not just about getting rid of her headaches.

"Jill, let me ask you a question. Do you ever get any dizziness, spaciness, memory problems or mood swings?" She says yes. "That would sure make a lot of sense. See on this chart right here, if you have a subluxation in this area not only can it cause the types of headaches you are having but it can also cause the dizziness etc. you have been experiencing. Let me ask you a question; is it also tender right there? Jill this area is called C2 often times if people have subluxations in this area they may have problems with sinus infections or snoring. Do you ever have those types of problems? No? How about here, is it tender there? Often times if people have subluxations in this area (T4) they will have gas, bloating, indigestion or heart burn, do you ever have any of those? You do? Well that sure makes a lot of sense because this is the area that innervates your gall bladder and if you are not getting the proper nerve supply to your gall bladder it doesn't get the right message and of course does not function as it was intended to."

All you have to do is go through the rest of the spine and do a complete review of systems. It only takes 2-3 minutes and not only do you get to gather the information, you also get to blow their minds and become the big Kahuna!!

There is much more to this and I will discuss how to use TTAT during your daily interactions in part two of this article.

Russ Rosen, D.C. - Feb 13, 2005