Chances are, you have heard or will hear one of these four things from your doctor during your health journey:
- Take this blood pressure medication or statin to help decrease your chances of a heart attack or stroke.
- Take Celebrex to help with your arthritis. You’re getting older, so you need to take it easy and slow down.
- Your X-ray shows your knee is now bone on bone, so a knee replacement is inevitable.
- Your MRI shows a disc herniation, so you need to get an epidural, and if that doesn’t work, you’ll need surgery.
All those statements are extremely common in Western medicine American healthcare clinics, and the reality is that they just are not always true. In fact, those statements above are more commonly false than true. To believe that, you must first be willing to accept that just because somebody has the title of “doctor” doesn’t mean they actually know the best practices for your specific condition. Consider this analogy: You obviously wouldn’t bring your car to a boat mechanic, right? Sure, car mechanics and boat mechanics both work on motors, but one specializes in cars, and the other specializes in boats.
Now, take that same thought process and ask yourself if you should be listening to an orthopedic surgeon who specializes in surgery tell you how to avoid surgery… Or maybe you should be consulting with a good physical therapist who specializes in helping people avoid surgery. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not downplaying the credentials of any healthcare professional. I’m simply stating that you should be very cognizant of who you’re taking advice from.
Another Fun Fact
Ninety percent of the medical schools in America don’t require a single class on nutrition, and on average, eighty percent of the curriculum is focused on pharmacology. By now, if you’ve been following me on my other channels, you will know that there is not a single pharmaceutical drug on the American market that isn’t focused on treating symptoms, as opposed to addressing the actual root problem.
This means that most primary care physicians have no idea how to coach you on your diet and exercise to help you lower your blood pressure and cholesterol naturally – because they were not taught how to do so. Plus, with the time restrictions, it’s much easier and quicker to simply write a script for a drug, which they may or may not get a kickback from, and move on to the next patient.
A functional medicine specialist, on the other hand, has spent tens of thousands of dollars and countless hours furthering their education to help you treat the vast majority of common medical symptoms naturally through diet and gut healing without using dangerous chemically composed pharmaceutical medications.
We are in a pivotal moment in American history. The American patient is getting smarter, asking more questions and doing more research. The old school days of taking what your primary care doctor and orthopedic surgeon says for the end all be all are over. It’s been proven time and time again that health insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies prioritize profits over patient outcomes, and the in-network providers are stuck in the middle of providing quality care and not going out of business. Again, I’m not saying your doctor is wrong. I’m simply saying that you should question them to make sure it makes sense to you. I even strongly encourage you to question me! I absolutely love it when somebody questions me because it forces me to back up my statements to ensure that I actually know what I’m talking about!
This article started with some statements that are not always true, so it’s only appropriate that it concludes with some statements that are true far more often than not. Knee arthritis does not cause knee pain. If it did, twenty percent of those who have gotten a knee replacement would not report chronic knee pain after surgery. Herniated discs do not cause back pain. There have been multiple studies looking at people over the age of 40 who do not have back pain, and on average, sixty percent of those will have some type of disc herniation show up on an MRI. Statins are not the best way to control cholesterol; diet and exercise are. And last but not least, and my personal favorite, pain is not a normal part of the aging process! For more information and to get a different perspective on your healthcare, check out The Berman Method Podcast or visit Bermanpt.com to schedule a FREE phone call with me!
Dr. Jake Berman, PT, DPT, is a physical therapist and the owner of Berman Physical Therapy, where they focus on treating the actual problem causing your symptoms (pain) to help you avoid taking pain pills and dangerous surgeries. So, if you’re tired of feeling “old” and you are looking for another way to keep active and mobile, call Dr. Berman at 239.431.0232 to take advantage of a FREE 30-minute taster session!