What Is Chiropractic

Chiropractic is a branch of the alternative medicine that deals with disorders of the nervous system and musculoskeletal system. Its name originates from the Greek "chiros", which means "hand" and "praktikos", which stands for "action". Specialists who practice it are called chiropractors or chiropractic physicians. Most chiropractors use a method of manipulating the spinal bones which is known as "chiropractic adjustment". This is a general term, as there are multiple schools of chiropractic techniques. However, the basic principle is the same: chiropractic adepts believe that disorders in the spinal cord affect various other regions and organs in the body, via the nervous system. By applying pressure on the spinal cord bones, subluxations are corrected, the proper joint alignment is restored, thus enabling the healing process. This is similar to the holistic medicine approach.

Like other alternative medicine therapies, chiropractic treatment is often accompanied by advice regarding healthy lifestyle and nutrition. Although the American Medical Association considered it an "unscientific cult", chiropractic managed to gain more and more acceptance from the masses, therefore it is now an established medical discipline in many countries such as US and Canada. Detailed studies are yet to be conducted, as none of the ones done so far are relevant.

http://www.ballymenachiropracticclinic.co.uk/whatischiropractic.htm (vertebral subluxation image credit)

Conditions Treated by Doctors of Chiropractic

Here are a few of the conditions that may benefit from chiropractic therapy:

• Chronic neck pain
• Tennis elbow pain
• Carpal tunnel syndrome
• Low back pain conditions
• Leg pain caused by herniated discs
• Ankle pains
• Chronic knee pain
• Chronic arthritis
• Shoulder pains
• Chronic headache
• Indigestion
• Mood swings
• Allergies
• Sleep troubles

Generally speaking the success rate of this procedure is somewhere between 50% and 80%, the success being measured only by the patient’s level of satisfaction. It seems that the lowest levels have been recorded in case of conditions that generate low back pains.

Chiropractic Schools

The length of the studies and the other conditions for practicing this discipline depend on the country. For example, in USA, chiropractic doctors have to follow five years of full time specialty education before being allowed to practice. Usually, board examinations are required for getting a license. Moreover, in some states, chiropractors are required to follow continuing education courses and gain credits each year. Their services might or might not be covered by health insurance, so patients who seek this type of treatment should first discuss with their insurance company, to see if it’s covered by their health insurance policy.

There are no general requirements for chiropractic schools admission, therefore those who want to apply will need to contact each school individually to determine if they comply or not with specific requirements.

Chiropractic Business

Maybe more than 70% of all chiropractic doctors in the US are in individual business practice. Big hospitals or health institutions don’t usually employ such specialists, but they probably will in the future, as the demand increases for alternative therapies. Nonetheless, freshly graduated doctors of chiropractic are probably seeking to open a private office, to hire staff, to buy a special medical billing software for tracking their earnings and their patients evolution, so they’d better be good at business management. However, things are not that complicated, especially if we take into consideration that there are software applications developed specifically for chriopractic offices, therefore making the doctor's task of tracking the medical activity much easier.

Chiropractic software is nothing else than a medical billing software customized to fit the needs of a chiropractic business office. When choosing the office management software program, a chiropractor, like any other kind of medical doctor, needs to take into consideration the specific needs he or she might have, and not only look for the cheapest solution.

Criteria for choosing the chiropractic software

Newer practicing chiropractors often fall into the trap of choosing their software exclusively by price. Then, as they progress in their day to day work, they realize the gaps such a cheap or free solution often has in what the office management is concerned. Another common trap is represented by discounts and promotional offers some software developers come up with from time to time, only to lure the doctors of chiropractic to buy their programs. After the promotional period ends and prices go up to the normal level, they might end up by being higher than in the case of better programs which were never discounted so heavily.

These are the main criteria to take into account before buying chiropractic office software, or any other type of business management software:

The software features must cover your practice needs

As a chiropractic practitioner, you are the one who knows best what needs to be tracked and recorded into a computer system, in what your patients and your daily work flow is concerned. If you need to know when you did the last chiropractic adjustment to a certain patient and how did his health improve or not after that, put this on the list. Sit down and make a thorough list of all these requirements, without worrying if there’s any piece of software out there to match your long list of needs.

You should know that there are two types of chiropractic software: online and offline. The online programs will require an internet connection for your office and that connection has to be reliable, because you can’t afford to have it not working for longer periods of time. This is why the offline solutions are probably better, as they are installed on your computer and they can be used within your intranet network or on your stand-alone computer, without needing any connection to the outside world.

After you have prepared your list, you can go on with your research, see what software is available and send a briefing to all those developer companies, asking them for a price quotation for a program that does everything you’ve been thinking of.

The software developer should offer good after sales support

Just buying a software and getting it installed on your computer is surely not enough to make sure that you can actually use it. You'll need training to be able to learn all details, then you'll need active support from the software vendor, in order to make sure that all problems you may encounter in using it will be solved as quickly as possible by the support team. Sometimes, the training of a certain number of users (such as the doctor, the office assistant and two other members of the medical team) is included in the software price, some other times it's not, therefore you always need to check on this when you make your budget.

Another point to check is whether or not the updates and upgrades of the software are free or not, and if they aren’t free, what kind of bonus can you get once you become a loyal customer.

Price matters, but it's not top priority

Nobody says you need to pay huge amounts for your chiropractic software, just like that, with your eyes closed. This is why it’s important to do your research very well and to ask for quotes from all developers you can find and which fulfill the quality criteria. You’ll then choose the cheapest from the best, in order to get the best value for your money. Besides, if some software includes features you don’t need, why pay more for things you’re never going to use? Would you buy a plane only for using it on highways, supposing you were able to do it? Absolutely not. Why then would you buy a software full of bells and whistles your small chiropractic office is never going to need?

Chiropractic software features comparison

Here’s a list of several features most chiropractors want, and another one with specific software program names, so you can have a starting point in your research:

• Billing and accounting
• Scheduling
• Appointment reminders
• Reporting flexibility
• Referral letters creation
• Inventory management and control
• Document scanning

All these features and probably more can be found in the following chiropractic software solutions:

• Eclipse Chiropractic Billing Software
• Lytec Medical ChiroChart
• EZ BIS Chiropractic Office Software
• SOAPe Platinum
• TGI Solutions
• Chiropractic Advantage Software
• MediSoft Chiropractic Billing Software
• Satori
• ChiroPad

All above mentioned programs offer a free trial version, therefore you don’t have to fear you’re not going to like your software which costs you that much. Some of them, like Eclipse Practice Management Software from Galactek, are supported by free training videos which customers can watch in the support section of the developer’s website.

If you choose wisely, you’ll have the best organized paperless office, thanks to your chiropractic software.