But there is a great enemy lurking in the background, just waiting to destroy the chiropractor and his practice. Chiropractic has always found a way to survive in the past, and will continue to do so. The greatest threat to the chiropractic physician is chronic stress left untreated. Physician stress is probably going to increase for most solo practitioners as they become buried in increasing amounts of paper work required by HMOs, PPOs, and other organizations they must join to survive.1 Stress is defined as the sum of all nonspecific biological phenomena elicited by adverse external influences, including damage and defense. Stress causes a long-term activation of the sympathetic nervous system's fight or flight response, which is not designed to be activated for extended periods of time.
Stress manifests itself in many ways.
One of the major difficulties is that many physicians will not admit that they have a problem. There are many types of treatments for acute episodes of stress. I have found rest, exercise, and diet to be the best treatment protocol for myself and many of my patients. Researchers have difficulty agreeing to the amount and duration required to have us function at optimum levels. Most research involving rest is done in the field of sleep studies.