I had an appointment with my general doctor today. I told him I was starting ballet. Of course, he encouraged me to do absolutely anything but ballet because of the damage it can cause to one's body.
I mentioned to him that I was wondering if I could do anything about my anteverted hips, lumbar lordosis, and tibial torsion. He said no.
Now, my doctor is great. I really do enjoy having him as my doctor. This is only the second doctor I've ever had as an adult that was a regular doctor (instead of just stopping by the in-and-out clinic), and I'm pretty sure he's going to stay my doctor for many years to come.
Now. I know that doctors have had way more schooling than I have. I know that they have even way more medical experience than I have. But I do not trust a doctor who tells me nothing can be done about my posture, just as I don't trust one who tries to give me anything besides basic nutrition advice. Doctors just aren't trained as much as I believe they should be in prevention medicine. They are educated and trained in treatment of current ailments. And this is how they make their money: by treating problems. I'm not at all saying that even my doctor would love to help me prevent, say, a bad back. Or that any doctor whatsoever wants people to be sick. That would be the last reason a doctor would go into medicine, I would think.
The medical industry as a whole profits from people being sick, not well. How much money is spent on developing cures versus tweaking medications (very often making a medication last longer so once the original goes generic, here's a new and improved version!)? This is why nearly anything cheap, natural, easy to obtain, etc. is classified as "alternative" medicine: the medical industry doesn't want to sanction things that deters their profits. (With a few exceptions, like drinking so much water per day, not playing with matches, whatever. They can't profit if everyone is dead!)(No, that doesn't conflict with my statement on the lack of focus on cures. It is far more profitable to have someone sick but alive than either healthy or dead. Cancer, for instance, is a billions-of-dollars industry. If a cure were found, there would be a whole lot less money being made.)
Anyway, I will spare you the rest of that tirade ;) My point is that I highly doubt my doctor learned much, if anything at all, about posture. Actually- I have another example to give. I happened to have an appointment with another doctor yesterday, one who I would think would be fairly knowledgeable about back pain. I asked HIM about having correct posture. Specifically, I wanted him to kinda help me guide myself into correct posture. But what did he do? He pointed to some stick figures on the spinal column chart, and told me not to slouch at my desk and to always be very careful when picking up heavy objects, to do it the proper way.
As I said, I'm no doctor. But I am finding it incredibly difficult to believe that having poor posture now cannot impact me in the future, and likewise that having proper posture NOW can prevent future back pain. Neither doctor said this, but neither doctor seemed to know anything about posture at all.
To (finally) get around to what I really came on to post: my doctor DID want to make sure I didn't already have any injuries in my back, and thus he ordered x-rays of my spine AND hips! (See? He wants to know if there is something he can treat, not something he can prevent. I don't blame him for this; this is how he has been taught to view medical issues, to fix something after it has been broken.) The nurse warned me she couldn't interpret my x-rays, but I did manage to get her to let me look at the screen showing my hips, and it was SO COOL! I really wanted to just stare, to examine it (and critique it in regards to ballet!). I couldn't look long, but I am definitely going to try to find out if I can at least have a copy of my hips. (I had to lie on my back and spread my legs into frog position. She asked me if I could go any lower and I couldn't *sniffle*)
I guess this wasn't such a quick post after all! Anyway, I'm almost off work and am about to stop by the ballet place here that I want to take classes, and see if I can actually talk to someone! Toodle-loo!
I mentioned to him that I was wondering if I could do anything about my anteverted hips, lumbar lordosis, and tibial torsion. He said no.
Now, my doctor is great. I really do enjoy having him as my doctor. This is only the second doctor I've ever had as an adult that was a regular doctor (instead of just stopping by the in-and-out clinic), and I'm pretty sure he's going to stay my doctor for many years to come.
Now. I know that doctors have had way more schooling than I have. I know that they have even way more medical experience than I have. But I do not trust a doctor who tells me nothing can be done about my posture, just as I don't trust one who tries to give me anything besides basic nutrition advice. Doctors just aren't trained as much as I believe they should be in prevention medicine. They are educated and trained in treatment of current ailments. And this is how they make their money: by treating problems. I'm not at all saying that even my doctor would love to help me prevent, say, a bad back. Or that any doctor whatsoever wants people to be sick. That would be the last reason a doctor would go into medicine, I would think.
The medical industry as a whole profits from people being sick, not well. How much money is spent on developing cures versus tweaking medications (very often making a medication last longer so once the original goes generic, here's a new and improved version!)? This is why nearly anything cheap, natural, easy to obtain, etc. is classified as "alternative" medicine: the medical industry doesn't want to sanction things that deters their profits. (With a few exceptions, like drinking so much water per day, not playing with matches, whatever. They can't profit if everyone is dead!)(No, that doesn't conflict with my statement on the lack of focus on cures. It is far more profitable to have someone sick but alive than either healthy or dead. Cancer, for instance, is a billions-of-dollars industry. If a cure were found, there would be a whole lot less money being made.)
Anyway, I will spare you the rest of that tirade ;) My point is that I highly doubt my doctor learned much, if anything at all, about posture. Actually- I have another example to give. I happened to have an appointment with another doctor yesterday, one who I would think would be fairly knowledgeable about back pain. I asked HIM about having correct posture. Specifically, I wanted him to kinda help me guide myself into correct posture. But what did he do? He pointed to some stick figures on the spinal column chart, and told me not to slouch at my desk and to always be very careful when picking up heavy objects, to do it the proper way.
As I said, I'm no doctor. But I am finding it incredibly difficult to believe that having poor posture now cannot impact me in the future, and likewise that having proper posture NOW can prevent future back pain. Neither doctor said this, but neither doctor seemed to know anything about posture at all.
To (finally) get around to what I really came on to post: my doctor DID want to make sure I didn't already have any injuries in my back, and thus he ordered x-rays of my spine AND hips! (See? He wants to know if there is something he can treat, not something he can prevent. I don't blame him for this; this is how he has been taught to view medical issues, to fix something after it has been broken.) The nurse warned me she couldn't interpret my x-rays, but I did manage to get her to let me look at the screen showing my hips, and it was SO COOL! I really wanted to just stare, to examine it (and critique it in regards to ballet!). I couldn't look long, but I am definitely going to try to find out if I can at least have a copy of my hips. (I had to lie on my back and spread my legs into frog position. She asked me if I could go any lower and I couldn't *sniffle*)
I guess this wasn't such a quick post after all! Anyway, I'm almost off work and am about to stop by the ballet place here that I want to take classes, and see if I can actually talk to someone! Toodle-loo!
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