The Informed Chiropractor Podcast

Why do practice members leave care, and what can you do before it's too late? In this episode, Brandi MacDonald is back on the show for the first time in a long while, and we talk about the early signs that someone is drifting off-trend, and the conversations that keep them in care.

Retention isn't a strategy. It's a lag indicator. What you control are the lead indicators: noticing health trends and behavioural trends early, and having the honest conversation while it still matters.

In this episode:

Why "retention strategy" is the wrong goal, and lead vs. lag indicators

Trend lines: catching someone drifting toward the ditch before they hit it

Why results come first: adjusting through a polyvagal lens with the MacDonald Safety Corridor Protocol

Health trending: what to do when something happens that nobody pre-framed

Brandi's three lenses (chiropractic, salutogenic and polyvagal) and moving people from "the one thing" to the whole thing

Behavioural trends: the missed second visit, the "I don't know my schedule next week" moment, and comments at the front desk

Why your chiropractic assistants are your "connector detector"

Amiable chiropractors and conflict: "It's not conflict, it's just the truth"

Topping up the rapport bank, and practising these conversations like an athlete

Scripting and table talk vs. incidental learning

Brandi on storytelling, depth and meaning in practice

Read the article: Why Patients Leave Chiropractic Care (and How to Notice Early)

We'll go much deeper on all of this, with role-play and our actual first-visit, report-of-findings, re-evaluation and front-desk systems, at The Gathering: The Communication Extravaganza in Toronto on Saturday, December 5, 2026. Doctors, chiropractic assistants, spouses and students are welcome: https://theinformedchiropractor.com/toronto

Also mentioned: our book, The Polyvagal Shift, coming in January; Healing the Chiropractor in Phoenix in January; the Communication Extravaganza on the Gold Coast in February; and something in the UK we'll keep you posted on.

This is clinical experience, not medical advice.

Free "Intro to the Polyvagal Lens" for Chiropractors: https://www.theinformedchiropractor.com/introduction-to-chiropractic-through-a-polyvagal-lens
Join the Informed Chiropractor Collective: https://www.theinformedchiropractor.com/the-informed-chiropractor

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If this episode was helpful, follow The Informed Chiropractor Podcast and share it with another chiropractor (or CA) who would benefit from the conversation.

Your practice members don't leave because your adjusting isn't good enough. They leave because of the little things nobody noticed.

In this episode, Dr. Don MacDonald talks about trend lines: the health trend lines and behavior trend lines that tell you when a practice member is drifting off course. Catch it early and a simple conversation repairs it. Miss it and those micro ruptures accumulate until someone ghosts you.

You'll hear why rupture and repair is the hidden engine of every strong practice relationship, what the "rapport bank" is and why a full one gives you leeway when things get bumpy, why your chiropractic assistants should be your best noticers, and how incidental learnings teach better than any script.

This is a preview of what Don and Brandi will be teaching at the Communication Extravaganza in Toronto on December 5, 2026. Bring your team. Details at https://theinformedchiropractor.com/toronto

Also mentioned: the Communication Extravaganza on the Gold Coast February 27, 2027, the pelvic floor protocol seminar in Perth February 20, 2027, and Don and Brandi's book The Polyvagal Shift, coming January 2027.

Free "Intro to the Polyvagal Lens" for Chiropractors:

https://www.theinformedchiropractor.com/introduction-to-chiropractic-through-a-polyvagal-lens

What happens when chiropractors look beyond the spine and begin paying closer attention to the pelvis, pelvic floor, fascia and nervous system?

In this episode of The Informed Chiropractor Podcast, Dr. Don MacDonald sits down with Dr. Lauren Rose, a chiropractor from Okotoks, Alberta, to talk about her journey into chiropractic and how learning a nervous-system-focused approach to the pelvis and pelvic floor has changed the way she works with her practice members.

Dr. Lauren shares how her interest in chiropractic began after discovering the philosophy of chiropractic while studying kinesiology, eventually leading her to the New Zealand College of Chiropractic. After returning to Canada and beginning practice in 2020, she developed her clinical experience while working as an associate and learning from experienced chiropractors.

The conversation then turns toward one of the areas that has become increasingly important in her practice: pelvic floor chiropractic care.

After attending Dr. Don's pelvic floor seminar in Calgary, Dr. Lauren began applying the approach with patients experiencing a variety of pelvic, hip, fascial and tailbone-related challenges. She explains why she was initially hesitant to add another technique to her practice and what surprised her about the way the pelvic floor approach could fit within a chiropractic framework.

Dr. Lauren and Dr. Don also discuss the relationship between the pelvic floor, fascia, movement and the nervous system, and why the goal is not simply to add more techniques, but to understand how the body responds to the input being provided.

Throughout the conversation, Dr. Lauren shares several clinical experiences involving tailbone discomfort, pelvic floor challenges, sciatica, hip function and changes in movement following pelvic floor work. These stories highlight how much there is still to learn when chiropractors become curious about the relationships between different regions of the body.

The episode also returns repeatedly to an important theme of Polyvagal Theory and nervous-system regulation: the state of the practitioner matters too. Dr. Don and Dr. Lauren discuss the importance of co-regulation and why chiropractors should pay attention to their own state before entering the adjusting room.

In this episode:

Dr. Lauren Rose's journey from kinesiology into chiropractic

How the New Zealand College of Chiropractic influenced her approach to practice

Why mentorship and the right practice environment can shape a chiropractor's career

How Dr. Lauren became interested in pelvic floor chiropractic care

Why tailbone and pelvic floor challenges encouraged her to expand her clinical approach

How pelvic floor work can be integrated through a chiropractic lens

The relationship between the pelvis, fascia, movement and nervous-system regulation

Why some patients may respond differently depending on the condition of their tissues and their ability to adapt

Clinical experiences involving tailbone discomfort and pelvic floor-related challenges

How Dr. Lauren describes using pelvic floor work with male patients experiencing tailbone challenges

What Dr. Lauren learned from attending Dr. Don's pelvic floor seminar in Calgary

Why listening to the patient's body can be more valuable than simply explaining symptoms

The importance of co-regulation in chiropractic practice

Why a chiropractor's own nervous-system state can influence the clinical environment

How Dr. Lauren approaches self-care, exercise and maintaining a positive state before practice

Why continuing education can change the way chiropractors see their patients

Key Takeaway
One of the biggest themes from this conversation is that chiropractic care continues to evolve as practitioners become more curious about how the spine, pelvis, fascia, and nervous system interact.

For Dr. Lauren, learning more about the pelvic floor did not mean abandoning the chiropractic approach she already valued. Instead, it gave her another way to understand the people sitting in front of her and another way to work with patients experiencing challenges she previously found difficult to address.

The conversation is also a reminder that clinical growth does not always come from adding more complexity. Sometimes it comes from learning to listen more carefully, observe more closely and understand the body from a different perspective.

Listen to the full episode to hear Dr. Lauren Rose's experience applying pelvic floor chiropractic concepts in practice and her perspective on nervous-system regulation, clinical curiosity and the ongoing evolution of chiropractic care.

📖 Related Article
https://drdonmacdonald.com/pelvic-floor-chiropractic-pelvis-fascia-nervous-system/

Learn More
Interested in learning more about the nervous-system-focused approach discussed in this episode?

Explore the free Intro to the Polyvagal Lens for Chiropractors from The Informed Chiropractor.

https://www.theinformedchiropractor.com/introduction-to-chiropractic-through-a-polyvagal-lens

Join The Informed Chiropractor mentorship waitlist:

https://www.theinformedchiropractor.com/the-informed-chiropractor

What does it take to build a practice through community, find the right associate, and grow into women's health and pelvic floor care?

In this episode of The Informed Chiropractor Podcast, I talk with Dr. Liz Walker, who grew up in Australia, played four years of college tennis at the University of Montana (where she also met her husband), studied at the New Zealand College of Chiropractic, and then came back to open her own practice in Missoula, Montana. She shares why she skipped PT school, how she built her new-patient base through community instead of paid ads, and why the hobbies and people you have fun with help ground you and grow your practice.

We get into how a women's health focus grew on its own (pregnancy, perimenopause and menopause), what she'd do differently with associates (clear expectations, a runway, benchmarks, and why "none is better than someone who's not a complete fit"), and why she bought a building when her lease ended, moving from 700 to about 2,000 square feet with massage, sauna and cold plunge.

Dr. Liz also shares what she noticed after our Unlocking the Pelvis and Pelvic Floor seminar in Calgary, how easy it was to add to her adjusting, and why she now focuses on regulating first instead of trying to "win the day." We finish with her advice: practice goes best when you're having the most fun.

This is clinical experience, not medical advice.

Related Article: https://drdonmacdonald.com/womens-health-pelvic-floor-chiropractic/

Learn the pelvic floor protocol hands-on: Unlocking the Pelvis and Pelvic Floor, Perth, Australia, Feb 20, 2027: https://www.theinformedchiropractor.com/perth-unlocking-pelvis-pelvic-floor-protocol
Free "Intro to the Polyvagal Lens" for Chiropractors: https://www.theinformedchiropractor.com/introduction-to-chiropractic-through-a-polyvagal-lens
Join the Informed Chiropractor Collective: https://www.theinformedchiropractor.com/the-informed-chiropractor

Connect with The Informed Chiropractor
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theinformedchiropractor
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/informed_chiropractor/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theInformedChiropractor

If this episode was helpful, follow The Informed Chiropractor Podcast and share it with another chiropractor who would benefit from the conversation.

The Informed Chiropractor Podcast with Dr. Don MacDonald

What if one of the biggest missing pieces in chiropractic isn't another adjustment technique—but an area of the body most of us were never taught how to assess?

In this episode, I share one of the biggest clinical breakthroughs we've had over the past year: integrating pelvic floor work into the MacDonald Safety Corridor Protocol through a polyvagal lens.

What started as one practice member with a prolapse and an ovarian tumor opened the door to an entirely new understanding of how the pelvic floor influences nervous system regulation, posture, movement, hip function, breathing, and overall health. Since then, we've taught this protocol to chiropractors around the world and the feedback has been incredible.

I also shift gears in the second half of the episode to discuss the three biggest challenges we're seeing while coaching chiropractors internationally—and why success today has less to do with learning another strategy and more to do with knowing where to focus.

If you've ever felt like there's a gap in your clinical toolbox—or your practice feels busy but unfocused—this episode is for you.

In This Episode, You'll Learn

Why has the pelvic floor become such an important part of our clinical work

How the pelvic floor influences nervous system regulation through a polyvagal perspective

The relationship between fascia, mechanoreceptors, posture and movement

Why chronic hip, low back, and rib problems often have an overlooked pelvic floor component

Clinical stories showing changes in prolapse symptoms, bladder urgency and hip function

Why restoring movement—not simply strengthening—is often the missing piece

The importance of informed consent and creating safety when working with sensitive areas

The three biggest obstacles chiropractors are facing today

Why too many strategies are creating overwhelm instead of growth

How identifying your current "season" of practice changes everything

Why understanding your natural Working Genius can reduce burnout and improve practice satisfaction

A preview of our upcoming UNMastermind experience in Lisbon

Key Takeaways
One of the biggest lessons we've learned is that regulation isn't just about adjusting the spine.

The nervous system constantly gathers information from every part of the body. When tissues lose movement, the brain loses quality information. By restoring ease and movement—especially through the pelvic floor—we often see improvements that extend far beyond the pelvis itself.

We also believe chiropractors don't need more information.

Most need more clarity.

Knowing what season you're in, focusing on the few things that matter most, and working within your natural strengths creates far more momentum than chasing every new strategy that appears online.

📖 Related Article
https://drdonmacdonald.com/pelvic-floor-and-polyvagal-chiropractic/

Resources 

MacDonald Safety Corridor Protocol

Polyvagal Theory for Chiropractors

Nervous System Regulation

Vagus Nerve and Chiropractic Care 

Pelvic Floor and Polyvagal Chiropractic

Learn more at: drdonmacdonald.com

 

Join us in Calgary or Toronto by visiting our website https://www.theinformedchiropractor.com/ 

Join The Informed Chiropractor mentorship waitlist: https://www.theinformedchiropractor.com/the-informed-chiropractor 

Free “Intro to the Polyvagal Lens” (for Chiropractors):

https://www.theinformedchiropractor.com/introduction-to-chiropractic-through-a-polyvagal-lens 

We just made the top 10 Podcasts on Polyvagal theory. Check it out, we are number 2

https://www.millionpodcasts.com/polyvagal-therapy-podcasts