It’s hard enough when medical doctors go outside their specialty and recommend or don’t, a treatment or therapy they know little about. I won’t say it’s from greed or self-interest but merely because they haven’t explored that area of treatment.
For years even before I became a chiropractor getting the approval for seeing ’one of us’ was rare if ever given. My Father went to one of us when he had a back problem. His medical doctor told him to go to bed for a week. Having 3 sons and a wife to support this was not an option, so he asked him about seeing a chiropractor for his complaint.
Thinking only of the well-being of my Father, he replied “If you see one of them don’t ever come to my office again.” I’m sure his only concern was for my Father’s welfare and thought that he would be worse after the treatment. Or perhaps he didn’t want to have my Father go to one of them, i.e. lower on the healthcare totem pole, and get relief and not ever see a medical doctor again for such a problem again. Economics plays a big role in healthcare and there is only so much money to be spent by marketing companies and out of pocket from patients.
Which brings me to the point of how much has changed the past few years.
Last year in the June 2016 issue of Consumer Reports, the front-page headline was on back pain. Many different techniques were reviewed.
Although the topic was on pain in many parts from the body, the discussion seemed to stress that one should try many different types of home or store bought remedies first. The premise being, if you don’t hurt anymore you must have fixed the problem.
As I treat people regularly I get a fairly up-close perspective on what happens when one waits before coming in for treatment.
This Year Again Real Relief from Back Pain Is the Front-Page Feature Article of the June 2017 Issue.
Again, the issue is pain relief. The question of why is my back hurting and fix it is not the discussion. However, you can be assured that if you rub something on or take a pill you are not doing much for the underlying problem, and it will surely return.
My point in writing this is to say how much the topic of healthcare has opened up to include many more types of treatment than would have been discussed 20-30 years ago.
It’s hard for me to imagine how people’s lives would have been effected if conservative care had been recommended prior to surgery.
Thankfully, it’s happened and in my lifetime too.