Understanding wellness in a contemporary context of chiropractic practice

Purpose: To present a model that facilitates the contemporary shift towards wellness care in chiropractic practice. Methods: The Chiropractic Identity statement achieved by the World Federation of Chiropractic through consensus methodology was purposively reviewed in light of evidence-based categories of chiropractic practice and a developing understanding of the breadth of neural dimensions of human wellbeing. Results: A model is presented that is aligned with the WFC Identity statement including the brand platform and the particular brand pillar of patient-centred care that emphasises the mind/body relationship inhealth. Four groupings are given to categorise the type of care provided in any particular patient encounter. They are (i) event-related treatment refl ecting a management plan developed in response to an identified event producing injury or dysfunction for which the patient demonstrates objective clinical indicators that leadto a diagnosis; (ii) symptomatic treatment being a sporadic application of treatment driven by the patient’s subjective demand for relief from a recurring problem; (iii) maintenance care being the ongoing provision of care in the absence of a subjective complaint but with objective clinical indicators, implemented following either event-related or symptomatic treatment; and (iv) prophylactic care, implemented in the absence of both subjective and objective clinical indicators in the expectation of achieving enhancement of health. Conclusion: The model presented in this paper adds meaning to the WFC Identity statement and represents a tool to help chiropractors understand wellness and how it fits into contemporary practice. The adoption of this model will facilitate chiropractic’s paradigm shift towards wellness by allowing different approaches to chiropractic practice to sit beside each other within any one of the four groupings.