Tuesday, March 23, 2010

He's a chiropractor...

not a medical doctor!

Fielded a call from a patient yesterday at the office. You could hear by the shakiness of her voice that she was trying not to cry.

Seems she rolled her ankle sometime during the day, and was now completely unable to put any weight on her foot or move it, and if she touched it, the slightest pressure made her nearly black out and/or want to puke.

So what does she do? She calls her chiropractor in a panic, hoping he can fit her into his schedule and "pop" her foot back into joint. Just like that.

In her magical world of rainbows and unicorns, her chiropractor has special powers that he uses to fix massive injuries, with the wave of his hand and by applying a little pressure. Oh, and by maybe taking an xray or two. Because soft-tissue injuries show up SO WELL on xrays.

I understand being hurt and afraid, but you have to have some common sense as well.
I also understand not wanting the hassle of going to the ER and probably receiving a whopping bill to boot, as I'm not insured, but for some things, you have no choice.

As my boss told her over the phone, icing it overnight is probably not going to help much. She needs to go to the ER and get an MRI. She shouldn't fool around with her ankle, as she's going to need it to be able to walk on that foot for decades to come.

Chiropractic is a wonderful practice, but it can't cure or fix torn ligaments and tendons, nor can it pop completely dislocated feet/ankles back into joint.

That's your PSA of the day.

9 comments:

Suldog said...

Amazing what some folks think specific practitioners can do, isn't it? I assume that once or twice you may have had folks inform you of some muscular problem that was beyond your scope?

Christina RN LMT said...

Jim, it happens all the time. People often expect me to "fix" things. Or they ask me to "heal" them. Sorry, no laying on of hands here! As a matter of fact, it specifically states that massage therapists are neither to diagnose nor treat any ailment, injury, or illness. It's far outside our scope of practice.

10% said...

Like asking the guys at the tire shop to fix a broken axle. Good at what they do, but outside of the scope of their work.

I love my chiro, but that doesn't mean I'm skipping visiting the Dr. when necessary.

Christina RN LMT said...

That's because you have common sense!

Farmmom said...

I think it comes down to a matter of trust. I trust my chiropractor and my LMT( you ) more than I do the unknown MD in the ER. Sometimes it takes someone that you trust to tell you what you need to do. Of course there are circumstances and injuries that it is just common sense to go to the ER. But we all know that common sense is not common at all.

Christina RN LMT said...

Farmmom, good point! And thank you for your trust, btw. :)

It is a bit scary to trust in the unknown, but with a serious injury, what choice does one have?

Agree 100% on the uncommonness of common sense.

Shannon said...

Maybe if Chiropractors could learn how to 'pop' that common sense back into place...

Christina RN LMT said...

Shannon, if only!

Zelda said...

There's a lot that chiropractic can do, even for dislocations, sprains and strains, but (except for popping something back into place) healing takes time. You can feel relief pretty quickly, but the actual healing of the injury is dependent on your body and how quickly it can regenerate.