Preventative Medicine

The classic of a doctor is someone you go to when you're sick. Are your eyes failing? Go to the eye doctor! Skin cancer? Go to the dermatologist! This doesn't make a lot of sense. You shouldn't wait for a building to collapse before you fix the cracks. Humans are not self repairing, self sustaining machines, they require work and care. This is why it's so important to schedule regular check ups, check regularly for lumps and moles, and schedule regular appointments with your dentist before you have a single cavity. Brushing your teeth doesn't fill your cavities, it prevents you from having them in the first place.

This sort of thinking - the knowledge that you can avoid health issues once you know the cause of them - is why we developed spray tans, to provide an alternative to cancer causing suntanning booths. Why almost all states have passing anti-smoking laws and bans. Michelle Obama has also drawn attention to the problem of obesity in our country, especially in schools, and almost all schools now focus on creating health providing environments, as well as education. It's more difficult to find a fast food chain without posted calorie counts and salad options, then with them.

But does this increased concern with and awareness of health issues actually lead to healthier people? One study in the American Journal Of Preventative Medicine one the effects of labeling caloric values on fast food menus, conducted as a cross sectional longitudinal from 2008-2010, which was evaluated in 2011-2012 on the effect that caloric labeling (that began at the beginning of the study) had on the caloric intake and overall weight of study participants. Their results were surprising. The calorie labeling only served to increase healthy eating in some participants, at some of the restaurants, and only among women. What the signs did do was create awareness of the issue.

Our understandable desire to stop ourselves from getting sick, and our increased knowledge as to the underlying causes of things like cancer and obesity, have inspired us to discover new techniques for promoting wellness, and to re-discover, old ones, like acupuncture. Even the department of defense is getting in on, having recently established the first full service acupuncture clinic on a military base. 

Since people are doing more to stop themselves from getting sick in the first place, does this means, as a doctor, you're going to start losing patients? Of course not. An increased interest and reliance on preventative medicine can actually get you more patients. Consider recommending massages, acupuncture, helping your patients develop good nutrition plans, healthy exercise habits. Encourage regular check ups, consider natural remedies like green tea, and acia berries. Don't just help your patients get healthy, help them stay healthy too.


How do you stay healthy? If you have any additional tips or suggestions, things that worked or didn't work for you, let us know in the comments, or by contacting us on twitter and facebook.