Chiropractors are an alternative treatment for patients who suffer from chronic pain. While their general aim is to improve on spinal mobility, they can also help with joint pain because everything is connected to your spine and posture.

It often offers immediate relief but even in rare cases where there is extreme pain or severe disfigurement of the bone due to bad posture, it can usually be resolved with a few sessions, provided that great care is taken to preserve and repair the offending area.

Chiropractics has become popular in recent years due to its holistic approach to offering solutions but before you commit to operating out of your own clinic, here are a few things you should consider.

What is your budget?

Along with any business venture in the world, the first thing that you need to assess is your budget. If you don’t have enough, perhaps you might want to consider applying for business loans, especially since the startup capital can range anywhere from $100,000 to $150,000 in the first year alone.

The cost of your rental will definitely depend on location, but office equipment and other medical equipment might require at least $40,000 - $60,000.

That’s not including your salary for the receptionist and other employees you might want to employ. Other overheads include insurance, licensing and utilities.

What is your brand?

Another ‘what’ that you need to focus on will force you to self-reflect on your practice. Are you a family chiropractor? Do you specialise in baby care? Or perhaps you’d like to focus on elderly care or sports industries.

It will definitely help if you take these into consideration prior to setting up your clinic or creating a name for yourself. Once you have an idea in mind, you will need to go through your state’s business and trademark records to ensure that there’s no other practice with your intended name.

It would also be worth it to go through social media platforms that you want to build your brand on and register the name you want to use as well as buy the relevant web domain names.

How will you deal with your business?

To put gently, how much are you invested in your profits? Some practitioners choose to work more than earn more, perhaps to stand out in a competitive industry.

Others are more interested in collecting higher fees. For the latter, they generally charge an hourly fee but you can also choose to charge a flat rate.

Sessions generally run from $50 to $150 per session but you can also come up with alternative payment plans, especially when dealing with a recurring patient.

How do you maximise profits?

With a high overhead of 65% - 70%, it might be worth it to partner up with other doctors. Chiropractors can couple their treatment with heat and light therapy, STIM therapy, Active Release, or other modes of treatments that can complement your practice.

By offering several different modes of treatment, it will also give you a more competitive edge by offering what others do not have.