by Susan Stamper •
Content Marketing Manager, ChiroHealthUSA •
By the time you reach student clinic, you may know every spinous process from here to next Tuesday. You can discuss differential diagnoses, recite contraindications, and squeeze enough abbreviations into a case note to make it look like alphabet soup.
Then a real patient looks at you and asks, “So…what does all that mean?”
And there it is: the blank stare. The polite nod. The face of a person who heard every word and caught almost none of the message.
If that has happened to you, welcome to clinical training. The language that helped you survive practicals is not necessarily the language that will help Mrs. Johnson understand why carrying groceries hurts.
You need two clinical languages: one for accurate professional communication and one for making that information useful to the human being sitting in front of you. The best chiropractors learn to move between the two as smoothly as changing lanes – with a signal, a quick check, and no sudden swerving. 🚗
That skill matters because patients cannot meaningfully participate in a plan they do not understand. Here is how to explain a care plan clearly, accurately, and confidently – without sounding as though you swallowed the glossary.
Communication Is a Clinical Skill, Not Decorative Trim
Good communication is not the parsley tucked beside the “real” clinical work. It is part of the meal.
Research connects the chiropractic patient experience with communication, information, trust, and involvement in decisions. A systematic review found that listening, clear explanations, and partnership shape the patient experience (Newell & Holmes, 2024). A national Danish survey also identified communication and shared decision-making as areas deserving attention (Lyskjær et al., 2025).
In a chiropractic teaching clinic, patients reported positive interpersonal experiences, yet opportunities remained for improvement in explanations, decisions, and patient concerns (Gentile et al., 2025). Being friendly helps, but friendliness cannot carry a care plan on its back.
A warm handshake cannot explain uncertainty. A confident voice cannot substitute for informed consent. And a perfectly positioned spine model will not rescue a sentence nobody understands.
The Educational Gap Is Worth Taking Seriously
Chiropractic programs teach a mountain of material. Somewhere between technique labs, neuroanatomy, boards prep, and wondering whether you will ever sleep again, communication may feel like something you will simply “pick up.” That is a little like hoping good adjusting skills will arrive because you stood near a table long enough.
Jones et al. (2026) reviewed 16 U.S. Doctor of Chiropractic program catalogs, accreditation standards, and national board test plans. Patient-centered communication terminology appeared inconsistently in required coursework and was underrepresented in board content. The practical takeaway: students may need to practice communication as deliberately as palpation, setup, or case presentation.
You would not expect to master a technique after watching one demonstration. Clear explanations also need repetitions, feedback, and correction.
Watch Out for “Jargon Oblivion”
Jargon oblivion happens when you have heard a term so often that you forget it is jargon. After the hundredth use, “radiculopathy” may sound as ordinary as “raincoat.” To a patient, it may sound like a dinosaur with a low-back problem.
The trouble is not limited to five-syllable words. In one study, adults frequently misunderstood common medical phrases and sometimes interpreted them as the opposite (Gotlieb et al., 2022). That supports clear communication with everyone instead of guessing who needs a translation (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality [AHRQ], 2024).
You do not need to toss clinical terminology out the window. Name the accurate term when it is useful, then build a bridge to everyday language:
“Your exam suggests lumbar radiculopathy. That means a nerve in your lower back may be irritated and contributing to the pain and tingling traveling down your leg.”
“Your cervical range of motion is limited. Put simply, you cannot turn your neck as far or as comfortably as we would expect.”
“I am recommending spinal manipulation, also called an adjustment. It uses a controlled force at a joint, with the goal of improving movement and helping manage your symptoms.”
“We will re-evaluate in two weeks. I will repeat the important measurements and compare them with today’s findings so we can decide whether to continue, change, or reconsider the plan.”
Translation does not water down your expertise. It lets the patient drink from it.
Build the Plan Around the Patient’s Seven Questions
Your report of findings does not need to become a TED Talk featuring a plastic spine. It needs to answer the questions your patient is probably carrying – even if they never ask them aloud.
- What did you find?
Lead with the findings that matter to the patient’s concern. AHRQ (2024) recommends prioritizing a few key points and putting the most important information first. Skip the narrated tour of every box you checked unless it changes the decision.
- What does it mean for me?
Connect the finding to symptoms or function without pretending uncertainty packed its bags and left town. “This may be contributing to your difficulty turning your head” is often more accurate than announcing one finding as the single cause of a complicated complaint.
- What are we trying to accomplish?
Clinical measures matter, but patients live in function. “Improve cervical rotation by 10 degrees” belongs in your reasoning; “check your blind spot more easily” gives that measurement a pulse.
Robert Vining, DC, DHSc, has identified systematic goal setting as an opportunity to strengthen person-centered chiropractic care. He also noted reports that some patients received too little information about why care was recommended, which limits shared decision-making (Vining, 2023).
- What are you recommending—and why?
Connect the plan to the examination, evidence, clinical judgment, and patient preferences. Explain the rationale for visit frequency and name the reassessment point. “That is our usual package” is not individualized reasoning; it is a sentence wearing a lab coat.
- What are the benefits, risks, alternatives, and uncertainties?
Informed consent is an ongoing conversation, not a signed form-shaped force field. In a study by Winterbottom et al. (2015), chiropractic patients described consent as communication that influenced decisions across different stages of care.
Requirements vary, so follow your school’s procedures and consult your supervising clinician, malpractice carrier, licensing board, or legal counsel for jurisdiction-specific guidance. A signature matters, but it cannot mop up a muddy explanation afterward.
- What do I do next?
Make instructions concrete. “Work on your posture” is about as actionable as “make good choices.” Show the exercise, state the frequency, and ask the patient to demonstrate it.
- How will we know whether this is working?
Give the plan a mile marker. Explain when you will reassess and what you will consider: symptoms, function, examination findings, and patient goals, as appropriate. Also explain what may happen if progress is faster, slower, or simply different from what you expected. A care plan should be a roadmap, not a scavenger hunt.
Use Teach-Back Without Turning It Into a Pop Quiz
“Do you understand?” is polite, quick, and not especially useful. It practically begs for a “yes,” particularly when the patient can see your hand inching toward the doorknob.
Teach-back asks the patient to explain the plan in their own words. AHRQ recommends presenting it as a test of your explanation – not the patient’s intelligence (AHRQ, n.d.). Try this:
“We covered a lot, and I want to be sure I explained it clearly. When you get home, how would you describe what we found, what the plan is, and what you will do next?”
If an important piece is missing, do not repeat the same cloudy sentence louder. Turning up the volume does not tune the radio. Rephrase it, draw it, demonstrate it, and check again.
For home care, use “show me”:
“Before you go, please show me how you will do this movement at home so I can make sure my instructions were clear.”
Patients may use written instructions. This is not a memory contest. You are checking the map, not grading the traveler.
Take the 90-Second Care Plan Challenge
Pair up with a classmate, intern, or mentor. Choose a straightforward case and explain the plan in 90 seconds. Include:
The primary relevant finding
Its possible connection to the patient’s concern
One patient-centered functional goal
The recommended care and rationale
Expected benefits, material risks, reasonable alternatives, and uncertainty at an appropriate level
The patient’s next action
The reassessment point
For round one, ban these terms unless you translate them immediately: subluxation, fixation, manipulation, biomechanical dysfunction, radiculopathy, hypertonicity, contraindication, acute, chronic, range of motion, and re-evaluation.
Then have your partner teach the plan back. Score each category from 0 to 2:
Clarity: Could someone without clinical training understand it?
Accuracy: Did the simpler language preserve the meaning?
Relevance: Did you connect the plan to the patient’s goals?
Choice: Did you address options, risks, and uncertainty appropriately?
Action: Was the next step unmistakable?
Confirmation: Did you check understanding without making the patient feel small?
Now do it again. Yes, again. Communication improves through deliberate practice, not by wishing on the parking spot closest to student clinic.
Clear Does Not Mean Cute, Casual, or Incomplete
Plain language must remain accurate. Avoid guarantees, fear-based explanations, exaggerated mechanisms, and claims that outrun the evidence or your scope. A catchy certainty is still wrong when the clinical facts cannot support it.
Warmth is not vagueness. Patients deserve clear information about recommendations, alternatives, risks, responsibilities, uncertainties, referrals, and the next decision point. Document the individualized conversation and applicable requirements.
The strongest explanation is clear enough for a patient, accurate enough for a colleague, and sturdy enough to stand after the charm, eye contact, and spine model have left the room.
The Test That Comes After Boards
Boards ask whether you can recognize the right answer. Practice asks whether you can help another person understand the choice in front of them.
Your patient does not need to be impressed that you can say “restricted cervical rotation with associated myofascial hypertonicity” without taking a breath. They need to know why turning their head is difficult, what you recommend, what choices they have, what they can do at home, and when the two of you will decide whether the plan is helping.
Lose the jargon, not the credibility. Keep the science, the humility, and the patient in the conversation.
Because if the patient cannot explain the plan after you leave the room, the visit may be over – but the communication still has homework. 💬
This article is educational and does not provide legal advice. Informed-consent, documentation, advertising, and scope-of-practice requirements vary by jurisdiction and clinical circumstances.
Sources
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. (n.d.). Use the teach-back method: Tool 5. Retrieved August 10, 2026, from https://www.ahrq.gov/health-literacy/improve/precautions/tool5.html
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. (2024). AHRQ health literacy universal precautions toolkit (3rd ed.). https://www.ahrq.gov/health-literacy/improve/precautions/index.html
Gentile, T., Whetten, A., & Alcantara, J. (2025). Interpersonal process of care experience of patients receiving care at a chiropractic outpatient teaching clinic. Journal of Chiropractic Medicine. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcm.2025.09.035
Gotlieb, R., Praska, C., Hendrickson, M. A., Marmet, J., Charpentier, V., Hause, E., Allen, K. A., Lunos, S., & Pitt, M. B. (2022). Accuracy in patient understanding of common medical phrases. JAMA Network Open, 5(11), e2242972. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.42972
Jones, A. L., Gliedt, J. A., & Battaglia, P. J. (2026). Frequency of patient-centered communication-related terminology in United States chiropractic curricula, chiropractic accreditation standards, and chiropractic national board content. Journal of Chiropractic Education, 40, eJCE-25-4. https://doi.org/10.7899/JCE-25-4
Lyskjær, L., Vach, W., Nim, C., Harsted, S., Terkelsen, M. Ø., & Jensen, R. K. (2025). Patient experience and satisfaction with chiropractic care: A national survey. BMC Health Services Research, 25, 1604. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-025-13767-6
Newell, D., & Holmes, M. M. (2024). Patient experience and satisfaction with chiropractic care: A systematic review. Journal of Patient Experience, 11, 23743735241302992. https://doi.org/10.1177/23743735241302992
Vining, R. (2023, September 12). Resources supporting person-centered care. American Chiropractic Association. https://www.acatoday.org/news-publications/resources-supporting-person-centered-care/
Winterbottom, M., Boon, H., Mior, S., & Facey, M. (2015). Informed consent for chiropractic care: Comparing patients’ perceptions to the legal perspective. Manual Therapy, 20(3), 463-468. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.math.2014.11.009
