Typically the blog posts that I write are a bit more educational or trying to teach you something about a topic. However, today's blog post is a bit more informal. I just wanted to share a trend that I've noticed lately in the office. It's something that affects a lot of patients, and they believe that they must accept it for what it is.
Over the past few weeks, I've seen a trend in patients who have had surgery, or were injured, and they went to Physical Therapy. They had a great experience with the surgery or therapy. The continuity of care from surgery to rehab and recovery went really well and overall, they're happy with the care. From the intake process to the discharge, it was great! The only problem is that they're still having pain, but they've been discharged from care. They're unsatisfied with the overall result even though it's been a very thorough and high quality process.
As someone who just invested a lot of time and money on surgery and PT, your hope is that you'll be back to pain-free movement after you have your surgery. Right??? If you're still struggling with pain and not back to your baseline expectation, then ultimately you're going to be upset with the results.
While I understand that pain is subjective and very difficult to measure, I think our current medical/insurance system is starting to completely invalidate what patients are feeling. I only say this because of the number of patients I've seen who meet their care limit based on "medical necessity". They all have the same story that goes like this: "I went through PT and it got a little better. I could do their basic exercises and complete their range of motion tests, but I still wasn't able to do certain things in my life without pain."
While it may seems simple: "patient has pain...patient should receive more care", it's actually much more complex. Many times, it isn't actually up to the clinic or doctor. A lot of times, treatment guidelines are dictated by insurance. While clinics can use their staff and time to fight for more visits from insurance, it can be a huge waste of time and money if they get denied. So essentially it's not worth it to make sure you get better as a patient. While it may seem harsh, this is sometimes the reality. You're in a system that views you as a number. Whether or not you are happy with the results or pain free, is not the insurance companies top concern. They just care that you meet the objective criteria and then after that they just see any "extra" care as a waste of money for their business.
I think there's a lot of great docs out there who want what's best for their patient, but they're handcuffed by insurance restrictions and red tape. However, at Rose City Sport and Spine, we see a lot of great results with patients like this. With fair pricing and a willingness to listen to what patients are dealing with, it's possible to achieve their goals. With an emphasis on FUNCTIONAL MOVEMENT, SOFT TISSUE THERAPY, AND CHIROPRACTIC our patients get back to doing what they love quicker.
For those of you who have been through a situation like this before and you're still dealing with issues, don't hesitate to reach out! Always here to help!
Thanks for reading and have an awesome day!
-Dr. Henly