Finding Balance in Chiropractic Practice

By Michael Dorausch, D.C.

Something I find myself telling many new chiropractors is to not forget to live a balanced lifestyle when starting your practice. I’ve seen this scenario far too many times: you come out of chiropractic school young & fit, still in terrific athletic condition, loaded with enthusiasm to get started in practice, and then you blow it when you’re going to require that stamina and drive most.

This may sound obvious but I feel it’s important to set good habits early on in practice. More than twenty years ago, when I was setting up a new office in Los Angeles, two of my chiropractic mentors told me to set a longer lunchbreak on the days I adjusted both mornings and afternoons.

I took their advice, and for more than twenty years in practice at that location, I never had shorter than a 3 hour lunch, and it was phenomenal. In my early days of practice, a three hour break away from the office allowed me to enjoy activities like these:

• Workout
• Meditate, Goal Set, and Review Affirmations
• Walk Dogs, Nap, Prepare a Healthy Lunch, Shower
• Network with other Business Professionals

There’s much more that can be done during that time, and in the beginning I’d highly suggest doing the same structured activities on a regular basis, until they become habits. It’s not a time for watching TV or consuming social media. Occasionally, it is a time for being on TV, preparing to be on TV, or creating material for social media. Those activities are best done after workouts, dog walking, napping, etc.

Creativity flows best when we are resting and distractions are at a minimum. Dog walking, running, and yoga are three great examples that I’ve found can have a profound impact on what the afternoon adjusting table talk is going to be in the office. We want to be as enthusiastic to adjust someone at 3pm as you are a 8am, or even 6pm. At least, that’s what we are striving for.

I mentioned networking with others, and having a long lunch break where you’re not stressed to get back into the office, is an optimal scenario. Who you choose to network with will be up to you, and as you grow you’ll discover what types of patients fit your personality best. I’ll cover the details of lunch networking another day, since my practice was very much built on it, and the results were too good not to share.

I want you to be successful in practice, so be sure to work on maintaining a balanced chiropractic practice and life, and prepare yourselves to the see the next generation of patients.