Add Weight Loss to Your Existing Chiropractic Practice
FEATURE
Nancy Singleton
AMERICANS ARE GETTING FATTER EVERY YEAR, AND THE TREND ISN’T SLOWING DOWN. THOUGH MILLIONS OF AMERICANS ARE OVERWEIGHT, FEW AMERICANS HAVE ACCESS TO THE RESOURCES NECESSARY TO LOSE THEIR WEIGHT AND KEEP IT OFF. THE MOST POPULAR WEIGHT LOSS PROGRAMS ON THE MARKET (WEIGHT WATCHERS, JENNY CRAIG, ETC.) MAY HELP IN THE SHORT RUN, BUT DON’T HELP PATIENTS ACTUALLY IMPROVE THEIR HEALTH IN THE LONG RUN. HOLISTIC, HEALTHY APPROACHES TO WEIGHT LOSS - FOCUSING ON WHOLE FRUITS AND VEGETABLES AND UNPROCESSED FOODS - ARE DESPERATELY NEEDED ON THE MARKET TODAY. As A CHIROPRACTOR, YOU HAVE AN ENORMOUS OPPORTUNITY TO STEP IN AND OFFER SERVICES THAT AREN’T AVAILABLE ELSEWHERE.
Why Add Weight Loss to Your Practice?
As a chiropractor, you have an obligation to protect your patients from preventable harm. You’ve chosen a profession that is committed to treating the entire person, rather than merely the isolated symptoms of disease. This approach sets you apart from many other health care providers and makes weight loss a natural extension of your existing wellness services. Incorporating weight loss programs into your existing practice will give you a way to ensure that your treatments aie maximally effective. You won’t just change lives in the short run - you’ll transform lives for generations to come!
Though weight loss programs will dramatically change your patients’ lives for the better, they’ll also boost your bottom line. Weight loss is a $60.5 billion dollar industry that has grown rapidly over the course of the last 20 years (up from $30 billion a year in 1992).1 The industry continues to grow as obesity becomes an increasingly prevalent problem. Today, 69% of American adults are overweight, and a full 35% are obese.2 With these conditions on the rise, millions of Americans need help that only you can offer.
As your weight loss programs boost your business, you’ll be able to expand your practice and reach out to more members of your community. This can be an enormously empowering experience. Holistic weight loss programs appeal to a much wider audience than traditional chiropractic services, and as such, will bring in patients who may never have come to you for chiropractic alone. Fewer than 12% of Americans see a chiropractor, but nearly 6 in 10 Americans want to lose weight.3’4
Adding weight loss to your practice can bring in a much higher volume of new patients each month.
How Do You Start?
You may think that you don’t have the time or the resources to offer weight loss programs in your clinic. Think again! You can offer weight loss programs even if your office is small, your budget is tight, or your time is limited. Start with what you can, and use your profits to expand your business over time. To add weight loss to your existing practice, you’ll need to offer some combination of treatments, supplements, and nutritional programs. For best results, combine all three.
A nutritional program is a set of dietary rules that your patient agrees to adhere to for a specified period of time. To ensure their success, you may provide them with a daily food journal, a way to track their calories, recipes, and other helpful resources. You or one of your staff members can coach them through this journey, teaching them about healthy eating and behavior modification. These types of programs ai e very successful because patients are held accountable for the decisions they make on a daily basis. When they know that they’ll report back to you at the end of the week, they’ll be much more likely to make healthy food choices.
“To set your patients up for longterm weight loss success, treatments should aim to cleanse and detoxify the body. ï Ï
Treatments are another integral part of any weight loss program. To set your patients up for long-term weight loss success, treatments should aim to cleanse and detoxify the body. There aie many ways to do this - with a sauna, a whole body vibration machine, or detoxifying and health promoting wraps. To ensure that your results are long-lasting, you can even offer
help with stress reduction and emotional eating. A little spa-like relaxation can go a long way!
As a chiropractor, you may also use supplements to facilitate your patients’ weight loss. Supplements can serve many purposes that range from appetite satiation to nutrient maximization. Any effective weight loss program should offer supplements that maximize your patients’ nutritional intake (a high quality multivitamin, at minimum) and aid in detoxification. Always choose whole food herbal supplements over synthetic isolates, and organic herbs over conventional crops.
Don’t forget that chiropractic adjustments will help your patients with overall health, which is really the goal. So while addressing weight loss may not be what you were originally trained on during chiropractic school, you did leam to treat the entire person. So weight loss should be one of your tools. If you don’t offer your patients a nutritional and healthy alternative, they will be tempted to lose weight with programs that aie detrimental to their health.
The good news is two-fold. You can change your patients’ lives by offering them sound nutritional weight loss protocols - and you will also increase the financial stability of your practice. With a little work, you can have a million dollar practice up and running in no time. Don’t wait until your situation is 100% perfect to get stalled - just jump in and start helping your patients. As you begin to see incredible changes in your patients’ lives, your success will inspire you to reach new goals. As you help your patients lose weight and get healthier, you’ll find enormous satisfaction - and financial peace of mind - in empowering others to change their lives for the better.
References
1. Marketdata Enterprises Inc. The U.S. weight loss market: 2014 status report & forecast. February 1, 2014. SKU: RF5197215. Retrievedfrom: http ://www. marketresearch. com /Marke tdata-Enterpr ises-Inc-v416/Weight-Loss-Status-Forecast-8016030
2. National Center for Health Statistics. Health, United States, 2013: With Special Feature on Prescription Drugs. Hyatsville, MD, 2014; 227-233. Retrieved from: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/ husl3.pdfr064.
3. Moore, DM. Close to 6 in 10 Americans want to lose weight. Gallup Poll, March 2006. Gallup Canada Inc. Retrieved from: http:// www.gallup. com poll/21859/close-americans-want-lose-w eight, aspx.
4. Barnes PM, Bloom B, NahinRL. Complementary and alternative medicine use among adults and children: United States, 2007. National Health Statistics Reports 2008; 12: 3-4.
Nancy Singleton is a 1989 graduate of Los Angeles College of Chiropractic Assistants. She has been consulting and helping doctors grow their practices for over 20 years. In addition to overseeing their busy practice, along with her husband, Dr. Todd Singleton, she helps chiropractors implement multiple cash systems into their existing practices. Please direct questions to (801) 770-6977 or ngsingleton@ gmail.com or visit www.DoctorsCashSeminar.com.
