Who's Managing Your Health Care Team?

Norton Shores Michigan Chiropractor - American football is the ultimate team sport.  Why?  Because in baseball, one dominating pitcher can control a game.  In basketball, one star can have an amazing night shooting the ball and then take the ball him self and shoot the winning shot.  In hockey, a goalie can single handedly carry a team.  But in football, the quarterback can’t make the throw if his offensive line lets the defense sack him.  And even if he does get the ball off, the receiver still has to catch it.  And even if they do score a touchdown, it doesn’t matter if the defense gives up an easy touchdown on the next series.

Teamwork matters in football.What in the world does this have to do with health?  I’m getting there...I recently came across an article in Dynamic Chiropractic (www.dynamicchiropractic.com) about chronic pain.  The article is about a new documentary entitled “Pain in America.”  The filmmaker, Donald Barrett, has helped produce 33 documentaries in his career, and he won an Academy Award for Best Documentary and a Peabody Award for his work in “Scared Straight.”One of catalysts for Mr. Barrett making pain the focus of his new documentary was his own struggle with chronic pain, as a sufferer of chronic back pain for many years.  He admits that he was very skeptical of chiropractic at first but after all the other options failed, he finally gave it a shot.  Now he says “My back troubles are behind me...pardon the pun.  I am fully convinced that chiropractic works and deserves better treatment in the general media than it has received.  As a filmmaker, that opportunity intrigues me.”According to his research he found a report stating that over "100 million Americans suffer from chronic pain."  With that staggering number, it is obvious that modern medicine has been ill equipped to handle this problem, much like his own back pain.  He believes that the only way this problem can be addressed is if the various health care profession work TOGETHER.  No more tired old politics.  No more turf wars.  No more missed opportunities for patients who need an alternative to drugs and surgeries.  Of course, doctors of chiropractic have been saying this for years.  We have never asked to “replace” modern medicine.  All we have ever asked is for the medical establishment to relinquish its total control of patient care and allow alternatives to have a fair chance to help the people in need.  Up until now, they have been unwilling to do so.

But chronic pain is a huge part of our overall health care crisis and it is one problem that medicine is ill equipped to face.  Long term use of painkillers is NOT a solution.  It only prolongs the problem, causing people to just shuffle through life, living pill to pill.  This increases the risk of obesity, heart disease, drug addiction, depression, even death.  Time has proven that chronic pain can not be tackled by medicine alone.  Pardon the cliche, but health care providers need to team up.

In football, the premise is simple: work hard, work together, and win.  Do this, and you’ll keep the fans happy.  Well, our health care system is losing and our fans are NOT happy.  In fact, they’re getting sicker and sicker.  No matter who pays for it, (insurance companies, the government, or ourselves) people need to assemble a team of professionals who are willing to work together to give them the best overall health care possible.

Here’s the cool part.  Not only are you a “fan” of your health care team...you’re also the general manager.  If any of your health care providers are too close minded to play nice with the rest of the “team,” do what any good manager would do for his football team: send them packing.  Remember, you EMPLOY your doctors.  If a doctor is not willing to be a team player, you need to find one that is.  Your health should be more important than the good doctor's biases and misconceptions.