Today’s patient has never been more connected to health-related information than ever before.
Many times, patients turn their perceived symptoms to queries on the internet, rather than speaking openly with their health care provider. However, the internet, unlike a practitioner, cannot build a trusting relationship with you; nor offer you continued management and updates on your symptoms and care plan.
I cannot count the times I have had patients come to me with ‘symptoms and diagnoses’ they have pulled off of WebMD and other health care websites, based on searches they have entered relating to their symptoms. By the end of the search, you’ve either got lupus or cancer. How charming.
It is our role as health care practitioners to listen to our patients and answer their questions as they pertain to their personal care and symptoms.
As it pertains to chiropractic care, some patients are experiencing our services for the very first time. Understandably, they come with questions about our services and how they can benefit through chiropractic in their reduction of symptoms and management of health concerns.
For these patients in particular, we need to ensure that we speak in terms that are familiar to them, through analogy or otherwise. Giving them basic concepts on pain as a function of their symptoms, and on how they can get relief through chiropractic care is important for follow-up care and beyond.
After all, a well-informed patient makes the best health care decisions.
The fundamentals of chiropractic care are simple: removing the nerve interference throughout the body by taking the pressure off of the nervous system will reduce inflammation at the chemical level as well as at the physical site of compression, will begin to alleviate symptoms, reduce pain and optimize function.
Huh? Exactly.
An easier approach to explaining chiropractic is:
1) The human body is an amazing organism
2) The nervous system runs this amazing organism
3) Damage or injury to the human body affects the nervous system and your body will not work correctly (pain, reduced range of motion, etc.)
4) Correcting the spinal misalignments will ease the stress on the nervous system and allow the body’s own natural healing to happen (no drugs needed.)
When patients come under chiropractic care, they want to know the following 5 things
1) What is wrong with me (how did it happen in the first place)?
2) Can you help me?
3) Is it preventable in the future?
4) How long will it take?
5) What will it cost to get better?
New patients are often discouraged when they hear that they must be under chiropractic care initially for a few times per week, for the first few weeks. However, just like exercise – if I told you that if you wanted to lose 15 pounds of belly fat and gain 10 pounds of muscle – you can’t go to the gym once a week and eat clean once a week and expect to receive great results.
Your body is complex. Chiropractors understand the complexities of life’s stressors: physical / chemical / emotional / mental. Your body, and more importantly, your nervous system, requires time to accept and process these good changes before long-lasting changes can begin to settle in.
As a patient, you should be excited throughout your care. First, you begin with pain and obvious symptoms (headaches, sciatica, etc.). Then, as pain and pressure begin to lessen your symptoms begin to abate.
Then, once you feel ‘a bit better’, you get excited and return to sport, vigorous workouts, etc. Then, you do something you’ve done countless times – and your pain returns!
Frustration!
The reason is because as your body begins to heal, it takes time for specialized muscle, ligament and tissues to even begin healing. It is likely that the activities you engaged in exceeded your body’s limits at that time, which exacerbated your symptoms.
As a doctor, you should be excited throughout your patient’s journey during care. You begin, by taking someone in obvious pain with symptoms and begin to help them towards a path of recovery and optimized performance. In no other profession do you get to share in your patient’s personal victories and challenge them to become better versions of themselves.
For me, I tell patients that ‘their pain and symptoms do not interest me’. Instead, I tell them that I know their pain and symptoms will abate. Further, I ask them to list for me their top 3 goals.
These goals may be:
1) Sit for more than 10 minutes, so I can read to my grand-daughter
2) Stand and walk for 20 minutes so I can play with my children
3) Be healthy enough for exercise so that I can begin to exercise without pain and start losing weight
By listing these goals, it places greater emphasis and importance for the patient, not for the doctor. After all, my goals are your goals.
If you have goals that are beginner-level, such as ‘sit at work in my chair for 5+ minutes without pain’, than I am with you. If you goals advance and you want to ‘be pain-free so I can run a 5km’, then I am with you too.
The beauty of what chiropractic offers is simple: we are part of your health care team to reach and achieve your goals and to continue to maintain and improve upon your goals.
My challenge to you is: If you keep doing the same things, yet keep getting the same results and expecting different ones – are you truly improving?
After all, that is the definition of insanity.
Stop spinning your wheels and start living. You, your body, and those around you will thank you.
Original Article by: Dr. Erik Uuksulainen at truenorthchiropractic.com
