7th September 2025 marked 10 years since my first day as a chiropractor. This month I wanted to take the time to share some of the more important things that i’ve learned in my time working in healthcare.
A lot of the things that i’ve learned are as much life lessons in meeting people as they are about becoming a better clinician. When we look to expand our team and take on a new graduate next summer, these lessons will be at the core of everything I will share with them.
Lesson number 1: Always be straight forward and honest.
A lot of people that we see have been struggling with their pain for a long time when they finally arrive at our clinic. What these patients are looking for is for someone to listen to them, take on board their issue and be honest about what needs to be done – draw up a clear plan.
Unfortunately, there are a lot of self-proclaimed experts out there who are simply looking to sell treatments to people in pain. For me, I find it far more fulfilling to tell a patient that can manage their pain on their own that they in fact don’t need to see me, and then give them advice on how best to tackle their problem without my on-going support.
On the other side of the coin, when a patient is thinking about stopping treatment too early in order to try and self-manage their problem, I will be very open and tell them that I disagree with this approach (whilst also respecting that it is their decision to choose what they want to do).
Open and honest communication allows a strong relationship between the patient and the clinician to form.
Lesson number 2: It’s all about building a connection.
This isn’t something that we’re taught about at uni, but building a healthy rapport with a patient where they feel they can be completely honest with you about every facet of their health is crucial. As i’ve written about before, a strong Therapeutic Alliance (the relationship between the patient and the clinician), is the strongest predicative factor as to whether or not a patient will get better.
What this means is that if you’re able to build a strong relationship with the patient, then you are able to significantly increase their chances of making a full recovery.
Finding common ground between myself and my patient could be the difference between them getting better or simply continuing to stay in pain.
Finally, lesson number 3: There’s a lot less ‘cracking backs’ than I expected.
After 4 very long years at uni, when you finally get to graduate and start your first job, there is a significant level of anticipation to treat your first ‘real’ patient and start helping people. My friends and I were all so preoccupied in comparing treatment techniques, that learning how much more there is to patient recovery than simply ‘cracking backs’ came as somewhat of a shock.
When I left uni, I initially thought that I was going to be spending my time performing spinal manipulation, administering soft tissue release and prescribing cool and sexy rehab exercises. Fast forward 10 years and I spend the majority of my day helping patients to increase their levels of physical exercise, educating them about the neuroscience of musculoskeletal pain and problem solving ways to create a rehab programme that is tailored to their specific physical needs – whilst also offering some treatment as an adjunct to that.
Whilst it would be a lie to say that I’ve loved every minute of my career so far, it has been a fantastic 10 years that have helped me to grow as a clinician in ways that would have been beyond my comprehension as a 22 year old new grad.
It would be much more accurate to say that I’m grateful for the lessons I have learned and that I get to spend each day working with a fantastic team and fantastic patients. Here’s to the next 10!
To read Rob Bailey’s latest column in the Diss Express please click here.
