Dangerous Thoughts

Probably all professions have a mental stumbling block that keeps many in the profession from truly excelling.  In chiropractic we see so many nearly miraculous changes in our patients' health on such a frequent basis, that we fall into the trap of thinking we are healers. This is dangerous because in fact we heal nothing.  The body does the healing and the chiropractor is just a facilitator.  

Thinking I'm the healer is a trap I've fallen into many times and something I must be vigilant to guard against.  It's not good for either me or my patients.  Patient's are too often eager to give me credit for results.  "You are a miracle worker, Doc."  It really appeals to the ego to think I have healed someone.  What a sense of power!  Maybe I have some special power!  Nothing can stop me!  I begin to think I'm god-like.

This is a dangerous place for me, or any other chiropractor, to be for a number of reasons.  First, the emphasis is misplaced.  Instead of the chiropractic encounter being about the patient it becomes about me, the doctor.  The focus is about what I'm doing instead of what the patient needs.  It becomes my success not the success of the patient.  

When patients fail to get fabulous results the wrong thinking chiropractor faces a dilemma.   I feel compelled to do more procedures in an attempt to get results.  Because I feel I am the one producing the healing, when the patient doesn't respond it suddenly becomes my own personal failure.  In an attempt to still be the healer additional procedures are added or another technique is tried. Results are usually marginal, because the innate healing power of the body is ignored.   The body often responds better to less rather than more because its healing energies can be focused.  The healer in me wants to do more so I can get the credit.

When I hold myself up as the healer I also deny the patient's right to participate in the healing process.  If patients have no involvement in the healing, then they have no responsibility.  In reality each individual must accept responsibility for the actions they have taken that have affected their health to this point.  They must also accept responsibility for any present and future actions for improving their health.  Becoming healthy is not an event, but a lifestyle.  A chiropractor can partner with a patient, but the patient must take the steps to move forward.


It is not my responsibility to heal the patient's body.  It simply isn't possible for me to heal anyone.  Only the body can heal itself.  A chiropractor's responsibility is simply to remove interference to the healing process.  Anytime I (or any other chiropractor) think I am the healer, I am in dangerous territory.   It's bad for me and for my patients.