How Chiropractic Adjustment Benefits Integrated Health Plans and Your Business

Any wellness practitioner will tell you there's no one-size-fits-all solution to health. That's particularly true for those who suffer from back pain, given that weight, nutrition, stress, footwear, burnout at work and other factors play key roles. A chiropractic adjustment benefits many with back pain, but when chiropractors work in a healthcare silo and only offer a single type of care, patients may not get the holistic treatment they need to feel better.

By integrating with other wellness providers and efforts, chiropractors can achieve more positive outcomes for their patients. For example, a proper nutrition plan can reduce many of the factors that trigger back pain. Better healthcare integration can also improve your overall business model. Here's how.

The importance of integrated health plans

Chiropractic care offers patients a non-invasive and drug-free solution to chronic pain. Chiropractic adjustment benefits include everything from reducing back, neck and joint pain to lowering stress, improving sleep, increasing energy and even helping restore flexibility.

However, many patients go to a chiropractor for ailments created or exacerbated by a variety of lifestyle factors that an adjustment can't necessarily fix. A patient may continue to reinjure a sore back if they don't change the habits that cause the problem. Additionally, a chiropractor isn't always able to advise or motivate that patient on exercise, nutrition, stress reduction, sleep, hygiene and the like.

Integrating chiropractic care with other wellness care

For chiropractors, a helpful business model involves partnering with other wellness professionals to provide an integrated and holistic health plan. Under this model, a patient looking for adjustments to ease back pain could also get a referral from the chiropractor to see a nutritionist, who could help craft a diet reducing inflammation. They might also speak with a massage therapist, who could provide stress relief. Similarly, chiropractors could partner with a physiotherapist, who could create an exercise routine to help strengthen and stabilize the patient's core muscles.

Some other types of wellness professionals you may consider partnering with include:

• Acupuncturists
• Yoga instructors
• Kinesiologists
• Hypnotherapists

Partnering with one or more of these wellness professionals can lead to more positive outcomes for your patients, since a holistic wellness program is much more likely to help chronic pain sufferers.

The integrated wellness business model

Whether the chiropractor and other health professionals all work under one roof or they provide each other with patient referrals, creating an integrated health plan can help chiropractors improve their business.

To start, it may simply get you more business by having a network of interrelated wellness professionals who can mutually provide regular referrals to your chiropractic care. In addition, the better outcomes that result from such integrations aren't only great for your patients, but also your marketing—there's no better advertisement than a satisfied, pain-free client.

Additionally, if you choose to create an integrated business with other professionals in the same area, you can all more easily afford the necessary real estate financing for the optimal location. It's yet another great example of how working together with other wellness centers can benefit everyone involved.

Treating patients holistically

Chiropractors know how chiropractic adjustment benefits their patients. But treating your patient holistically by partnering with other wellness practitioners is both good business practice—especially with appropriate financing for chiropractors—and good health care.