Chiropractor and the Family Doctor

In the healthcare world today we find that the career trend in medicine is to push most doctors into specialty care. A specialist is someone who knows more and more about less and less, and this is all good except that when too many doctors are becoming specialists, who is going to be the family doctor? The other intended effect of medical specialization is the increase in prescription of the more expensive drugs. As much as there is a need for specialists the costs of medical care just keeps going up because we don’t start the process by seeing our family doctor.

There is a growing discontent in the medical world today. Doctors are seeing fewer of their children entering medical schools; in fact there are much more attractive jobs in IT and other new industries that young men and women have several options to enter the labor force, leaving medicine as a lower priority. High malpractice and medical business expenses may also play into this trend and people in general are more suspicious of the drug only approach of medical care today, so they are less interested in becoming doctors. Ask children decades ago what they wanted to be when they grow up and being a doctor was high on that list. Ask that question again today and we see that the culture has changed.

There is one doctor in the community that is too often overlooked for as the family doctor, and that is the Chiropractor. There is a misunderstanding and even misconceptions of the role of the Doctor of Chiropractic and this means an important link in the healthcare system is under-served. Let me ask you this: “did you know the Chiropractor goes through eight (8) years university, just like other doctors, before qualifying for licensing?” Why does it take so long to train a chiropractor, you ask? It is because they learn most of the same things other doctors learn in patient care and assessment. Don’t misread what is being said here. Chiropractors are not the same as MDs but their training makes them equal as Primary Care Screeners. The reason the education is so extensive is because a person can go see the chiropractor directly without the need for a medical referral.

So, when we are seeing less and less MDs in the family doctor role it is good to know that, when the chiropractor is available in your community, they can be the family doctor for many if not most situations you would go to or bring your children to the doctor for. As natural doctors the recommended care will not include drugs; but that may be more of the type of doctor you may want as your first level of care in the first place. If there is a need for a medical specialist referral, the Chiropractor can make that referral, just as well as the general MD.

So what does the Chiropractor and the Family Doctor have in common? Thousands of patients who seek timely care for their general health is what they have in common. When a family philosophy happens to be very conservative about using drugs or surgery, their neighborhood chiropractor may be the better choice as their family doctor.

Yours in Health,
docMIKE