Principled Scanning

It seems that each and every day I get a request to share how I would report and relate scans and their scores.  That’s a great thing in my life. I love empowering DC’s and eventually their patients with my certainty and my skills in communication.  Years ago, I started to create a “recipe” for the ideal scan report.  I knew it had to be based on the power of the philosophical principles for Chiropractic mixed with the science of recovery and healing and sprinkled with the art of compelling language.  It’s really why, in one of the busiest offices on the planet, we made the INSiGHT the centerpiece of all procedures. It became the hub for clinical assessments, reports and care planning.  I recently saw a Toyota commercial that stated something like, “These are just cars until you begin to drive them”.   It reminded me that great technologies, like cars and scanners, need human interaction for them to be of any value.  To empower your patients, you need to embrace the power that scans give you to become an amazing expert, storyteller and adjusting machine.

The journey of scan interpretation and reporting has been a long one for me. I am enthralled by the ever-present nuances that emerge as I apply the 33 Principles to the remarkable data being collected within the functioning nervous system. There is always the interplay between the pathological approach and the salutogenic approach.

In the pathological approach:

• We can look at scans through a bio-medical lens very accurately and
• Deduce the neurofunctional pathways and associated responses being hyper or hypo to a normative baseline.

Through the salutogenic approach:

• When we analyze the data through the vitalistic lens we see an intelligent system working innately to reset itself to an efficient and productive outcome.
• Instead of hypertonic muscles and palpatory tautness we see limited distribution and dysponesis.
• We observe the unobservable “something extra” that chiropractic patients receive when we look at HRV.  They are the luckiest people as we can literally see them increase their adaptability and raise their capacity to take on more as they optimize their potential.

It’s time to realize what our philosophy has told us all along and what finely calibrated instruments confirm.  Healing is a nonlinear event. It’s sequential but chaotic by design. When we interpret scans from our principled perspective, we see opportunity and not failure.  We see intelligence unfolding.  We don’t exist in a Pollyanna world full of unicorns and roses.  Life and living is messy, but purposeful and we see that unfold in scan sequences. When we see more energy being expended on a second or third EMG scan, it should be perceived as a natural response like a when a fever occurs as a child fights a virus; intelligent energy usage with a purpose. We are much more than simply intentful practitioners.  We use evidence informed approaches because we are clinicians dedicated to unleashing the story of our philosophical tenets through valid, reliable and reproducible actions. Whether that action is a physical exam, a technological assessment or an adjustment, the intent to heal is brought together with the logic and experience of a myriad of scientific proofs whose outcomes align so that health improves and ultimately life is expressed with more ease.

How cool is it to be a chiropractor of conscience, telling their story, delivering their masterpieces of adjustments and care planning while using INSiGHT scans that were designed specifically for that purpose?

Thanks for reading!