Prevention is not high profile. You don't see a safety engineer's picture decorating headlines in the same way you do an EMS person who is dragging a driver from a mangled car. Similarly, we have obituary columns listing those who have died and not a vitality column listing all the people in town who survived another day. Good Prevention Habits People tend to be procrastinators and sometimes lazy. But for things that they realize have to be done, such as getting their teeth brushed or getting their care inspected, they seem to make time.
Periodic adjustments are as important as regular dental hygiene.
But, getting spinal manipulative therapy is only part of the overall prevention plan. In the Hot Seat For patients who are in clerical or desk jobs working on computers all day, there are several potential health problems which are preventable and the chiropractic physician can perform a valuable service by helping the patient make small changes in their work environment to make the job not only safer and easier, but even more enjoyable. Helping employers fit employees with chairs which support the low and mid-back and instructing employees how to sit properly, is an art in and of itself. Get the Word out Chiropractic physicians must be more aggressive in educating the public about prevention and its benefits and in positioning ourselves as prevention doctors. I feel that the national organizations should sponsor a one hour, prime-time television program on one of the networks, discussing prevention based care and how chiropractic has an important place in assisting patients in developing preventitive programs, and has a portal of entry to detect early signs of various health care problems.