Recently a patient was asking me why some people need knee replacements even though they are not physically active and had no injury. “Do they just ignore the problem?” Not being an orthopedic surgeon I can’t definitively answer that, but certainly in many cases our health problems are made worse by not being proactive about treating them. Remember the old adage “An ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure”?

As we continued to discuss the idea of being proactive my patient brought up a very good point. Maybe it is not that people are purposefully ignoring their health issues, but they are more afraid of the treatment than they are of the problem. I think he may be onto something.

The mindset in our country is that there is a “pill for every ill”. That’s all well and good but we’ve all heard the disclaimers on drug commercials. Certainly itchy eyes and runny nose is better than having a stroke. If it is a musculoskeletal issue then there is always the fear of needing surgery. For many people it is better to ignore a minor complaint than to deal with it and have to deal with possible risks or side effects. The problem with that strategy is not knowing when to stop ignoring the problem and deal with it. The longer it is ignored the bigger the problem may become and the scarier the treatments will get.

This may not seem like a big issue at first glance. Either people take care of their health or deal with it later and maybe have bigger problems. For myself and my fellow acupuncturists the problem is bigger. We know we can help these patients and we do our best work when the problem is still minor. However, our medical system still does not do a great job of offering alternative solutions. Doctors do not recommend them enough and insurance companies often do not cover them. We need everyone’s cooperation to help bring acupuncture out of the fringe and make it an option for patients.

For the patients and their family and friends – don’t ignore your health. Sometimes little issues do go away on their own and that’s great. Ignoring a problem, however, doesn’t make it go away. Those little aches and pains are a signal that something is wrong and needs to be fixed or something needs to be changed. Rather than ignore the issue see your doctors and other health care professionals and if they are recommending a treatment that might have some scary side effects ask them for more information about the risks. Seek out alternative methods. It might not be covered by insurance but treating an issue early with acupuncture might require two or three visits. Waiting and creating a bigger problem will make it more expensive to treat (regardless of how you treat it), more time consuming, and decrease the chance of a complete recovery. Speak up and let your healthcare providers know you want more options for treatment, write or call your HR department (or whoever determines your insurance options) and let them know you want policies with alternative treatments covered.