Chiropractic care must not be taken as the direct competition of surgery. Since there is no one potent medical solution for all muskuloskeletal disabilities, why not work hand in hand to ensure a patient’s recovery? Healing is not a sport, no one is competing, all medical professionals including chiropractors and surgeons must work hand in hand to ensure a patient’s recovery and the safety of his life. Think in an open-minded way for a minute, think of it this way: there are medical conditions that need to be taken care of through conservative and non-invasive treatments such as chiropractic adjustments, but of course there are also those conditions that need immediate but invasive treatments.
The medical field does not have to be a place where one medical practitioner look down upon the claims of one practice, after all, everything in this field are not just measured through claims, but through the proof of efficacy. Just like in school, Science and Math play a vital role here, it is exact and therefore must be treated as such. If there is one article that we’ll pick that greatly describe how this relationship should be, it is the article written by Brian Capaldi, DC entitled: Chiropractic and Surgery: Separate, But Not Divided. Here are some excerpts that uphold this thought:
People generally think of hot and cold temperatures in terms of opposites. But in actuality, cold is the absence of heat, not the opposite of it. These polarities, like many things in life, are distinguishable from one another, but never separate. They exist exclusively in relation to each other.
Now, what if we applied that same sort of thinking to our practice and the health care world around us? What if we engaged, as providers, in optimizing patients’ health instead of treating our specialties as separate and divided entities? What if we realized that we too exist in relation to each other? As a chiropractic physician, I have unique insight into these medical dualities. I understand the delicate and somewhat complex relationships between chiropractors and physicians, and chiropractors and surgeons. But much to the pleasure of any good holistic management teacher, I refuse to be a stakeholder on either side of the debate. I choose to recognize the benefits that can be obtained when MDs, DOs and DCs work together, both for their patients and for their practices.
If people can only think the same way of the medical practice as Mr. Capaldi, the medical field would be a place where people collaborate for the good of everyone. No competition, but everything will be measured, exactly the way it should be – through efficacy, Science and Math. To exhaust patient’s effort in finding cure for what he or she is experiencing is something medical practitioners do not have control over, however, Mr. Capaldi made a great point in this again:
The way I see it, if patients are willing to explore surgery as viable option to relieve their pain in between chiropractic care, why can’t we? That’s not to say patients should always see all specialists available. We know chiropractic care is the first choice for patients experiencing neck and back pain; we also know surgery is inevitable on occasion, and that in such cases, having chiropractic intervention pre- and post-operatively is the ideal route.
A good surgery center has an understanding of this order of treatment and of assessing patients. It can determine who is a candidate for surgery in between chiropractic treatment, and who will be able to benefit from chiropractic care alone. In fact, surgery should rarely be scheduled for patients who haven’t exhausted all conservative treatment options first.
There should be no competition at all, everyone must think outside the box to help patients who need care. Surgeons who think the condition is much better addressed through chiropractic care, must tell their patients. Likewise, chiropractors who feel that patients suffering from medical conditions which need surgery must let the patients know, so they can create a decision. Although not all do this, great practitioners whether surgeons and chiropractors always do.
All of these points are correct, thankfully there are many open minded practitioners out-there who treat different practice with the same respect they would give their own practice.
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