Chronic Pain and the Medical Merry Go Round. The problem with over specialization

Today I saw a patient I have not seen in years.  She was in terrible pain and could no longer work due to it.  Her primary doctor had sent her to a number of specialists who drugged, poked, prodded, injected and pushed her off to other specialists, without actually helping her.  Her arthritic knees and legs continued to worsen and be more painful and not at any time did they ever mention the idea of seeing her chiropractor again.

I was quite upset by what I saw because many of the increases we see each year from our health insurance carriers is because of never ending procedures and aimless care.  I was able to help her today and she walked out of the office more easily and in less pain.  The problem is that I am seeing this with increasing frequency.  As your chiropractor, I see myself as part of a persons health care team, however, in many ways I am also primary care for the musculoskeletal system.  I look at people, not just their symptoms.  In this womans case, they looked at symptoms, and somehow forgot that everything is connected.  I suspect this is because of our broken healthcare paradigm, which is proliferated at is source, the educational institutions that teach broken care full of big words, with little understanding behind them.

I firmly believe we need to make primary care to be more important that specialization, and we need to teach doctors about body systems.  By looking at the knees, hips, arms and other painful areas, and ignoring their inter relationships, we are harming people and at worst, ripping off the public.  The public deserves better.

If you know of someone who is experiencing this type of situation, and they have not looked outside the traditional medical system, perhaps they need to place their trust elsewhere.  Doing the same thing and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity.  I would be happy to help this person and steer them in the right direction.

The best doctors treat people, rather than the symptoms they'd shown up with.

What do you think?  I value your opinions.