Some Chiropractors in my area offer discounts for a package of treatments. Is th!

Some Chiropractors in my area offer discounts for a package of treatments. Is this ethical???

Regardless of wheather or not it is effective, I hear about package deals, discounts for referrals and a lot of slick marketing which tend to put me off.
Anybody elses's experience would be welcomed??

More than likely these package deals you speak of are for wellness care, and not acute/chronic care.

Acute/chronic care is when someone goes in to a chiropractor for a chief complaint. The chiropractor should have a general idea of how long this will take to be fixed, but everyone's situation is different, so it may be more, and it may be less. This makes it difficult to have a package deal. Some chiropractors do charge a flat rate for a "package" of treatments for a particular chief complaint, but I personally as a chiropractic student view this as unethical, and this is not something I will do when in practice. Typically though chiropractors do not put together package deals for acute care, or care for people with a chief complaint. There are many different ways chiropractors accept payment, through insurance, medicare and workman's compensation are three big ones, and none of these allow for package deals.

Wellness care on the other hand is different, it is using chiropractic without having a chief complaint to gain the benefits of preventing future injuries, as well as the benefits of having your body function at maximum efficiency. This is why professional athletes usually get adjusted, to function at the absolute peak their body can perform. There is more and more research in regards to chiropractic wellness care (though currently not nearly enough research yet in regards to wellness care) A recent study performed at my college showed that the Logan Basic technique is effective at lowering blood pressure, other studies include some epidemiological studies in regards to enhanced immunity due to regular adjustments, as well as chiropractic wellness care and the treatment of IBS, asthma and a multitude of other problems. It is these problems that chiropractors deem as wellness care, and can ethically put together package deals.

I'm not so sure about discounts for referrals, I don't know that it is expressly illegal, as my orthodontist had a referral program in place around 5 years ago. So it may be that it is legal to have referral programs in place for elective treatments, such as braces, or chiropractic care, but not legal for a cardiologist to have a referral program.

As far as other slick marketing goes, unfortunately there are those minority of chiropractors that are Svengali's to some extent, but the vast majority of chiropractors are honest people who want to help people get and stay well. Keep in mind that the good chiropractors out there aren't typically the ones who are taking out a full page ad in the yellow pages, or a billboard next to the interstate, they are full simply due to word of mouth and getting results.

The fact of the matter is Chiropractic works! No matter how many close-minded '60s era medical doctors such as samharveymd are doing the disservice to their patients telling them that Chiropractic doesn't work, the fact of the matter is this: If chiropractic didn't work it wouldn't be around, and I wouldn't be putting myself through a 10 semester (30-40 class hours per week) program after getting my bachelor's degree, I would have went to PT or medical school.