Segmented care one size fits all care for conditions such as back pain, neck pain, or knee pain may well be a disease affecting the healthcare professions. While most people are used to hearing about diseases, the truth is that this type of care leads to overtesting, dogmatic procedures designed to relieve a symptom but fails to ever cure, manage or even relieve a problem in a cost-effective way. Recently, a patient experiencing leg, knee, and back pain was a perfect example of how this type of care leads to the chronicity of a solvable problem. His problem began with knee pain which led to [caption id="attachment_14221" align="alignleft" width="294"] How does your doctor look at you?[/caption] back pain, and hip pain, and eventually, three specialists later, two injections and two MRIs later, he arrived in our office in pain and frustrated after months of care that in its entirety, did nothing to resolve why he hurt. Cost-wise, it cost his insurance company thousands for care that was inappropriate and not curative. Our first visit revealed he had a foot problem causing all of this and he walked out of the office in far less pain after a holistic evaluation, history, and treatment. I forgot to mention the custom orthotics he wears at work which were not corrective either. The inexpensive off-the-shelf orthotics made a huge difference. Healthcare should be a simple process of a conversation, examination, and a path to wellness that is simple and cost-effective while being low risk to the patient. Procedures such as epidurals are not low risk. MRI tests to greenlight an epidural are not a cost-effective use of valuable health resources. The current data according to the NY Times suggests that chronic pain is an epidemic worse than any other disease. The care patients receive seems to be the disease and the cure is holistic care and the right chiropractor. The opioid crisis was merely the symptom of a system in crisis due to a failure to educate doctors or pay them enough to care. Check out the latest article on chronic pain from the NY Times New Cases of Chronic Pain Outnumber Those of Diabetes or Depression, Study Shows Research from the N.I.H. illustrates how persistent and pervasive the condition is across the United States. By Dani Blum May 17, 2023 New cases of chronic pain occur more often in the United States than those of other chronic conditions, like diabetes, depression and high blood pressure, according to a study from the National Institutes of Health. The findings offer a large-scale confirmation of what previous research has shown: Chronic pain is staggeringly common in America. Experts have known that around one-fifth of U.S. adults have chronic pain, but the new study offers a snapshot of just how many people are newly suffering each year. Researchers analyzed data from 10,415 adults who participated in two editions of an annual survey led by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; respondents reported how often they felt pain in the last three months, and whether that pain interfered with their daily lives. Read more