When Parents Disagree About Chiropractic For Their Child
If you are running a successful family practice, chances are you are seeing adults and children as well. In some cases however, when both husband and wife are not under care and there is a child or children involved, resistance may be met as it pertains to the chiropractic care for the dependent.
If and when you are met with the challenge of one parent who desires chiropractic care for their child, but the other parent is uncooperative or simply refuses to allow the care there are a few steps that you should consider for the sake of all involved. First and foremost, try not to judge the parent who is against care for the child. More times than not, the parent not interested in pursuing care for their child is uneducated and under a preconceived misconception or notion as to what chiropractic care is and the benefits than can be obtained through care. We also know that as a society, most people have simply become accustomed and comfortable with seeking a traditional healthcarepractitioner and masking symptoms and treating illness with medication. Sadly enough, even insurance reimbursement is designed to focus on treatment as opposed to preventative care.
With this point in mind, some family education is the first step one can take to help get both parents on the “same page”. Hopefully, you are holding new patient workshops and encouraging all family members to attend…patient or not…By doing this, you can open up the lines of communication early in the relationship with your new patient and begin the process of educating ALL family members.
Another suggestion would be to have other parents available to share their experiences. Have some written testimonials, and if possible, have some parents both male and female available to speak in person or by phone with pensive moms or dads. A good idea would include having a workshop or education class specifically focusing on chiropractic care for children, and with “You Tube” available now, you could have some videos available for parents to view. Demonstrating your technique and the child’s response to being adjusted can be very helpful. Naturally, a picture is worth a thousand words, right?
I can speak from personal experience about the anxiety I felt prior to my daughter’s first chiropractic adjustment. As much as I believed in the need to have her checked for subluxation, and then the need to have her adjusted to correct her misalignments, the thought of her being manipulated scared me a bit. How would she react? Would she be uncomfortable? Would the technique used on me differ from the technique used on her? Would she be uncomfortable afterwards? These are all normal concerns and if YOU, the chiropractor can put yourself in the shoes of the uneducated or “under” educated parent, have a sense of empathy and anticipate in advance the normal concerns that any parent may have, then your chances of “selling” the uncooperative parent on care for the child will be increased.
Although, chances are you will still have some resistant parents after taking the steps I’ve suggested, I can guarantee that with some common sense and TLC, you will win more battles than you lose!
This post written by Lisa Roberts www.chirometromarketing.com
