by Susan Stamper •
Content Marketing Manager, ChiroHealthUSA •
When we stayed with my grandparents growing up, there was a daily interruption that felt downright unfair.
Right around the middle of the day, just when our game of king of the hill was reaching legendary status or hide-and-seek had reached championship-level intensity, Grandma would call us inside for “rest time.”
Now let’s be clear about something. None of us wanted rest. We had dirt on our shoes, wind in our lungs, and the strong belief that whoever controlled the hill controlled the world.
But Grandma had rules.
We didn’t have to sleep. We just had to come inside, sit down, and read.
To soften the blow, she offered motivation: behave and there would be homemade cookies waiting when rest time ended. Refuse… and the dogwood switch was always nearby as a reminder that Grandma believed strongly in personal accountability.
Looking back, she was doing more than just giving herself a quiet house for an hour.
She was building readers.
For years after that, books were my favorite form of escapism. A good story was like stepping through a doorway into another world for a while. During college I slowed down, mostly because textbooks had already taken over every waking hour. When you’re studying constantly, the idea of reading something else can feel like adding another lap to an already exhausting race.
But eventually reading found its way back into my life. Now my friends and I have a book club, and I’m working through the Bible for the second time.
For me, reading has always been a way to hit pause on the noise of life.
But here’s the interesting part.
If you’re a chiropractic student or a new doctor, reading fiction might not just be a break from the chaos.
It might actually make you better at your job.
And surprisingly, research says that’s not just a nice idea. It’s measurable.
Fiction Is a Gym for Your Empathy Muscles
In chiropractic school, you spend years building technical knowledge.
You learn anatomy like a roadmap.
You learn biomechanics like a physics equation.
You learn technique until your hands move almost automatically.
All of that is essential.
But when real patients sit across from you, something else enters the room.
Their story.
Patients don’t arrive neatly packaged like exam questions. They come in carrying stress, frustration, fear, and sometimes a long history of healthcare experiences that didn’t go the way they hoped.
Empathy becomes the bridge between what you know and what they’re feeling.
Here’s where fiction steps in.
Research shows that reading fiction can improve something psychologists call social cognition, the ability to understand the thoughts and emotions of other people (Dodell-Feder & Tamir, 2018).
Think of it like mental cross-training.
When you read a novel, you’re constantly stepping into someone else’s shoes. You’re following characters through conflict, misunderstanding, success, failure, relationships, and difficult decisions.
Your brain is quietly practicing how to interpret human behavior.
And in chiropractic practice, interpreting human behavior is half the battle.
Stories Train Your Brain in Ways Textbooks Don’t
Textbooks are incredibly useful. But they train a very specific type of thinking.
You’re scanning for:
- key terms
- definitions
- diagrams
- exam answers
Reading fiction works differently. It’s more like watching human nature unfold under a microscope.
You start asking questions like:
- Why did that character react that way?
- What are they feeling but not saying?
- What changed their decision?
Psychologists describe fiction as a simulation of social experience (Mar et al., 2009). In other words, it’s like rehearsal for real life. Every chapter gives your brain practice interpreting emotions, motivations, and relationships.
Now think about your future clinic. Patients will walk in with symptoms, yes.
But they’ll also bring:
- anxiety about their pain
- frustration from previous treatments
- concerns about time or cost
- hopes that this time something finally works
Being able to read a patient’s emotional landscape is just as valuable as reading their X-rays.
The Chiropractic Clinic Is Full of Stories
When you’re in school, it’s easy to think the hardest part of practice will be mastering technique. Adjustments matter, of course. But once you’re in practice, something becomes very obvious very quickly. People are complicated.
Let’s look at a few situations most chiropractors encounter sooner or later.
The Skeptical Patient
This person sits down across from you with their arms crossed like a pair of locked gates.
They’ve tried other things. They’re not convinced chiropractic will work.
At that moment, you can explain the mechanics of joint restriction all day long.
But what really matters is understanding their perspective.
Why are they hesitant?
What experiences shaped that skepticism?
Empathy opens the door to trust.
The Patient Who Isn’t Improving as Fast as They Hoped
You’ve done the exam correctly.
Your care plan is reasonable.
But the patient still feels discouraged.
Pain has a way of shrinking someone’s world.
If you can recognize the emotional side of that frustration, the conversation shifts from purely clinical to genuinely supportive.
That connection can make the difference between a patient quitting care and sticking with it.
The Patient Who Brings Their Whole Life Into the Appointment
You know the one.
What starts as a quick check-in turns into a ten-minute story about their job, their stress, their dog, their neighbor, and the weather.
New doctors sometimes see this as a distraction.
But often it’s simply someone looking for acknowledgment.
When you understand people better, those conversations become easier to guide without losing the human connection.
Fiction Slows Your Brain Down in the Best Way
Chiropractic students become professional skimmers.
You skim lectures.
You skim review guides.
You skim study notes.
Efficiency becomes survival.
But in practice, moving too fast can lead to missed clues. Patients don’t always explain their problem clearly on the first try. Sometimes the most important detail arrives halfway through the conversation.
Reading fiction trains a different rhythm. It encourages patience. Instead of sprinting toward an answer, you follow the story as it unfolds. Like a winding trail through the woods, it takes its time getting where it’s going. Research suggests literary reading can help readers tolerate ambiguity and think in more nuanced ways (Bal & Veltkamp, 2013).
In clinic, that kind of thinking can be incredibly valuable.
Better Readers Often Become Better Communicators
Another benefit of reading fiction is something chiropractors rely on every single day.
Communication.
Chiropractors are translators.
You take complex concepts like neurological irritation, spinal biomechanics, and tissue healing timelines and explain them in language that makes sense to someone sitting on the other side of the desk.
The stronger your language skills are, the easier that job becomes. Studies examining reading habits and cognitive performance have found links between fiction reading and improvements in language processing and social reasoning (Wimmer et al., 2024).
In practical terms, that means reading stories can strengthen your ability to explain ideas clearly and connect with people through conversation.
Practical Ways Students Can Start Reading Again
Now before you panic, no one is suggesting you add 600-page novels to your already intense study schedule.
But small habits can go a long way.
Here are a few manageable ways to start.
- Replace 10 Minutes of Scrolling
Instead of ending the day with social media, read a chapter of a novel.
Ten minutes a night adds up faster than you think.
- Pick Stories That Focus on Characters
Books with complex characters tend to stretch your empathy more than plot-heavy action stories.
Historical fiction, literary fiction, and narrative biographies are great places to start.
- Join a Small Book Group
Discussing books forces you to think about motivations, decisions, and perspectives.
It’s surprisingly similar to clinical reasoning.
- Don’t Skim
Let the story breathe.
If you rush through fiction the way you rush through study guides, you miss the very thing that makes stories powerful.
The Chiropractor Who Understands People Wins
Technical skill will always matter in chiropractic. But success in practice isn’t built on technique alone.
The chiropractors who thrive long-term tend to combine three things:
- strong clinical skills
- clear communication
- genuine understanding of people
Reading fiction quietly strengthens the last two. It’s like adding another instrument to your clinical toolkit, one that doesn’t come in a box and doesn’t show up on your technique certification.
Maybe Grandma Knew What She Was Doing
Looking back now, those forced rest times at my grandparents’ house feel a little different.
At the time, they felt like an interruption.
Now they look more like a lesson.
Reading slows you down.
It opens your perspective.
It invites you into someone else’s experience.
For chiropractic students and early-career doctors, that might be more valuable than it first appears.
So the next time your brain feels fried from studying or clinic hours, try something unexpected.
Close the textbook.
Pick up a novel.
And let yourself get lost in the story for a while.
You might come back a better chiropractor.
Sources
Bal, P. M., & Veltkamp, M. (2013). How does fiction reading influence empathy? An experimental investigation on the role of emotional transportation. PLOS ONE, 8(1), e55341. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3559433/
Castano, E., & Kidd, D. C. (2013). Reading literary fiction improves theory of mind. Science, 342(6156), 377–380. https://online.ucpress.edu/collabra/article/4/1/7/112955/The-Effect-of-Reading-a-Short-Passage-of-Literary
Dodell-Feder, D., & Tamir, D. I. (2018). Fiction reading has a small positive impact on social cognition: A meta-analysis. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 147(11), 1713–1727. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29481102/
Mar, R. A., Oatley, K., & Peterson, J. B. (2009). Exploring the link between reading fiction and empathy: A theoretical-empirical framework. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/273632922_Effects_of_Literature_on_Empathy_and_Self-Reflection_A_Theoretical-Empirical_Framework
Mumper, M. L., & Gerrig, R. J. (2024). Cognitive effects and correlates of reading fiction: Two preregistered multilevel meta-analyses. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11355533/
Wimmer, L., Currie, G., Friend, S., Wittwer, J., & Ferguson, H. J. (2024). Cognitive effects and correlates of reading fiction: Two preregistered multilevel meta-analyses. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02702711.2025.2504974
High Point University Library. (2022). The benefits of reading fiction literature. https://www.highpoint.edu/library/2022/01/05/the-benefits-of-reading-fiction-literature/
