Exclusive to AJCC from the ICA

ICA President’s Column

 

By CJ Mertz, DC

     (Dr. C.J. Mertz is the newly elected ICA President. He is also the Executive Director of ChiroUSA as well as founder and head coach of the prestigious Waiting List Practice chiropractic training organization.

 

In 1926, BJ Palmer created the International Chiropractors Association, and one of his wishes was to see subluxation become a household word.  Seventy-seven years have gone by, and I believe everyone reading this article would acknowledge we haven’t come even close... until now.

            Imagine for a moment, your phone begins to light up on every line, and each person who is calling you is asking to schedule a subluxation check up.  Does that seem far-fetched?  I suppose that is what dentists, orthodontists, and nutritionists performing cholesterol tests, used to think before they each experienced their professions’ breakthroughs.  The biggest problem facing chiropractic isn’t poor insurance reimbursement or poor legislation...it is poor positioning and a lack of clear identity in the public.

            Have you noticed every time you meet a new patient; you have to start “the story” all over again from the beginning?  To the chiropractors who have been in practice for more than ten years, this is quite disturbing.  It’s as if no one has ever heard the story!  There’s a big push right now for more chiropractic research (which I support), but the patients who are learning about subluxation for the first time aren’t asking for more research.  They just want to know why they weren’t told about it sooner, so they and their family would not have had to suffer for so long.

            Our profession’s budget is a mere fraction of what the pharmaceutical or AMA spends each year.  Nonetheless, millions of dollars flow through our associations each year, every year, year after year.  The future of our great profession, making subluxation a household word in every family, on every continent in the world — starts right here at home.  That means shifting our priorities and allocating resources to promote chiropractic, and spread our principled message throughout every city in North America.  Our story is easy to understand because it is the truth.  Now is the time to share it on the world stage through media, and let the people of the world come to us!

            A chiropractor I am working with in Pennsylvania called me recently with great news.  He had been using a specific communication strategy I teach in his practice, and it worked!  I call it the fourth generation rule of referral, but to make a long story short, his patient’s referrals are now calling to schedule a subluxation check-up.  Quite frankly, this process is so simple; it is a shame every chiropractic team isn’t trained to make it work in their community. This is why I believe we must combine new media and public relations strategies with a profession wide grass roots campaign to achieve our objective in the next five years.

            I believe there are ten to twenty thousand dedicated men and women who are ready to rally together now, for both personal and professional victory.  Each of us is being called to come down out of the stadium as spectators, and hit the field as players.  No one person or no one group will accomplish this by themselves.  It is going to take a concerted effort; with the finest leadership organization chiropractic has ever produced.  Imagine the possibility within five years in your community, people are no longer asking, “Do you see a chiropractor?” They are simply asking, “Who is your chiropractor?”

            For the sake of the many millions still shackled in the bondage of ignorance, and for the many thousands of future chiropractors we so desperately need to enter the field, it is time we come together with one united cause, one singular purpose, one objective for which there is no turning back; making subluxation (once and for all) a household word. As the fourteenth president of the International Chiropractors Association, I promise to do my part, but so must you. Take up arms with us as thousands are doing by the month, and let’s mount the biggest charge that has ever happened in chiropractic. Let’s not look up or change direction or focus until we win this race. The pay-off will be enormous, as we simultaneously will have positioned ourselves as the permanent leaders of the wellness revolution — the next trillion-dollar industry on this planet. The world deserves to discover the miracles of specific chiropractic adjustments, especially as it relates to the removal of nerve interference and the inspiring possibility of 100 percent life potential.

            Get on board or get left behind, because everybody who is anybody is jumping on this wagon.  There is plenty of room for everyone (including the special uniqueness each of you brings to chiropractic), but individually we can still get stomped on.  Collectively, however, we can slay even the biggest giant, and put chiropractic into every household in your community.  Join the ICA and help us move forward.

            Until next time, practice with passion,

                                  

  Dr. Mertz received a Bachelors Degree from the University of Montana in 1980. He received his DC degree from Palmer-West Chiropractic College in December 1984.He had a large volume practice in California before starting Waiting List Practice seminars in 1986. He has received numerous awards from the chiropractic profession including Chiropractor of the Year, Entrepreneur of the Year, and a Humanitarian Award. He has taught over 500 seminars and personal development camps to more than 5000 chiropractors and their staffs.