What Type Of Doctor Should You See In Texarkana For Musculoskeletal Injury Or Pain?

A recent study reveals some shocking findings about why you should see a Chiropractor first for musculoskeletal pain or injury, more on that in a moment.

First it’s important to understand…

What is Musculoskeletal Injury or Pain?

The musculoskeletal system is an organ system that gives us the ability to move using the coordination of muscles, joints, and bones through the nervous system. It also provides support, structure, and protection for the body.

Musculoskeletal problems include problems in the neck, upper back/shoulders, lower back, extremity problems, and some common headaches.

The system can be injured through various forces, some chronic repetitive stresses like something you do at work, home, or during your favorite hobbies/activities.

Most sports injuries, work injuries, and car accident injuries are to the musculoskeletal system.

The majority of degenerative arthritis (that results in disc bulges, herniations, bone spurs, and worn joints) are musculoskeletal.

Musculoskeletal Problems, Pain, and Injuries Are Very Common

Up to 25% of ALL Medical Doctor visits are for musculoskeletal problems.

A 2007, article by Humphreys, Sulkowski, et al reported, that Medical School might not devote enough time to the musculoskeletal system saying,

“It has been estimated that less than 5% of the undergraduate and graduate medical curriculum in the United States is devoted to musculoskeletal medicine.”

This is very disproportionate to the number of patients seen for these conditions.

5% of time spent learning about problems that make up – up to 25% of their practices.

It’s simply the way the schools teach and the focus of the training. Other more life threatening problems are the primary focus.

The authors went on to reference another study that evaluated PT’s knowledge of musculoskeletal conditions and their management,

“A study by Childs (et al) on the physical therapists’ knowledge in managing musculoskeletal conditions found that only 21% of students working on their master’s degree in physical therapy and 25% of students working on their doctorate degree in physical therapy achieved a passing mark on the Basic Competency Evaluation (in musculoskeletal system).”

The authors next looked at Chiropractors,

“The typical chiropractic curriculum consists of 4800 hours of education composed of courses in the biological sciences (ie, anatomy, embryology, histology, microbiology, pathology, laboratory diagnosis, biochemistry, nutrition, and psychology), chiropractic sciences, and clinical sciences (clinical diagnosis, neurodiagnosis, orthopedics, rheumatology, radiology, and psychology).”

“As the diagnosis, treatment, and management of musculoskeletal disorders are the primary focus of the undergraduate curriculum as well as future clinical practice, it seems logical that chiropractic graduates should possess competence in basic musculoskeletal medicine.”

The authors looked at competency in understanding the musculoskeletal by profession.

The results were published in this paper for the Basic Competency Examination of the musculoskeletal system.

The following numbers indicate the percentage of each profession that was able to achieve a 73% or higher…

• Recent medical graduates (18%),
• Medical students, residents, and staff physicians (20.7%),
• Osteopathic students (29.6%),
• physical therapy (Masters level PT, 21%),
• physical therapy (doctorate level PT, 26%),
• Chiropractic students (51.5%).

Many health professionals are trained in musculoskeletal conditions and different problems may require certain types of care.

Every type of health care provider has a purpose.

All can help certain problems.

Chiropractors based upon their training and comparative studies are shown to be highly competent in helping / treating musculoskeletal conditions.

In fact as demonstrated in the study referenced above,

Chiropractors were more than twice as likely to understand musculoskeletal conditions when compared to MDs and about twice as likely as PTs.

This is not to condemn these professions.

Both MDs and PTs help a lot of people and their focus is often on other types of problems.

Chiropractors on the other hand are primarily focused on the neuro-musculoskeletal system and that focus is demonstrated in the study results.

Based on these results it makes sense to see a Chiropractor first for the greatest probability of finding out what is wrong in the musculoskeletal system.

MDs often do not have an understanding about what Chiropractors do or how well it works.

This is why a person will ask their MD about seeing a Chiropractor and be told they don’t think it would help…

The MD generally just doesn’t know enough to make a good decision about the option of Chiropractic care.

In many other cases, it’s why Chiropractic is never brought up to a patient that could benefit from Chiropractic before moving to more aggressive treatment options. It’s simply that the MD has not learned about Chiropractic Care.

This is likely behind the recent FDA recommendation that MDs learn more about Chiropractic Care.

Chiropractors are truly primary care doctors for evaluation and management of all musculoskeletal problems.

It’s also very important to note that Chiropractors will refer out those patients that can not be helped by Chiropractic Care.

Study referenced above… Humphreys, B. K., Sulkowski, A., McIntyre, K., Kasiban, M., & Patrick, A. N. (2007). An examination of musculoskeletal cognitive competency in chiropractic interns. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, 30(1), 44-49.

Need To See A Chiropractor In Texarkana?

Email Us or call 903-793-1084. We’re here for you!