We had practice patients at my school, some who had the condition that we had to diagnose, some who mocked it. It’s was very helpful and we were grateful. There are definitely better and worse schools in the chiro world, and there is a struggle to bring some into the 20th century. No, I didn’t miscount, we’ll hopefully work on the 21 century once we get them into the 20th century. I think the osteopathic schools, as far as I know, are fine for teaching MD equivalent skills, I just know that there is a variety of emphasis on manipulation programs, some of which start teach manip skills as soon as you enter the program, and graduate people with excellent skill.
The worried well are often fleeced. I have as one of my creeds “You don’t want to devise an ingenious solution to a non-existent problem”. If they are concerned about a region, but don’t really have pain, signs or symptoms indicating it’s a problem, I show them exercises and how to work on strengthening the area, and tell them I’ll be here if they ever do have problems. The medically unhelped patient is a varied group, some of who look exactly like the worried well. Some have something undiagnosed or have been misdiagnosed, some had interpersonal issues with MD’s (which, while I was never there, often sound like the MD’s issues more than the patients), some have had an unexpected reaction or more pain following medical intervention and are leery of getting medical help again. If there are people I don’t think I can help, I tell them that, if they’re better served by seeing an MD for the problem, I tell them that, even if they don’t think that’s the right answer. I know enough local MD’s for referral purposes that I can try to get them to someone kind and competent.
Money has been the root of a lot of evil in healthcare, sadly. A friend, not a doctor, was doing healthcare screenings at health fairs, including blood pressure readings, for a large insurance company. She was horrified when she found out later they used that data so they could figure out which people had hypertension so they could avoid insuring them…
