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What is a Zebra?
When going through medical school training, we learn about horses and zebras. Horses are the more common things that we tend to see, the common diagnoses, while the zebras are the very uncommon ones. The saying goes, “if you hear hooves coming, think horses, not zebras.” That said, the zebras are still out there, and many people are walking around with a zebra that a physician or other healthcare professional has not been able to identify. Maybe they treat it as a horse, and maybe it does respond similar to a horse, but it does not fully behave like a horse, it acts differently, it looks different, it’s a zebra.
- a person is a unit of body, mind, and spirit.
- structure and function are reciprocally interrelated.
- the body is capable of self healing, self-regulation, and health maintenance.
- rational treatment is based upon adhering to the above mentioned principles
By using these approaches I am able to come up with effective treatment plans to not just paint the stripes over the zebra, but to get the entire animal that is trampling over you to be able to go away; to be able to restore function, resolve pain, and allow you to be your normal self again. Using these principles allows me to be able to see and treat what is inside the box (the horses), but also it allows me to be able to see and treat things outside the box (the zebras). This makes me a more well-rounded physician and gives me the ability to diversify the number of treatments I can offer someone to be able to get them better again.
Many times we call my clinic the “zebra clinic”, as we see so many people who have seen someone else, maybe numerous other physicians, people who have gone to numerous institutions, universities, even the Mayo Clinic, but not gotten an answer, not figured out what their zebra was. At Motion is Medicine I’m proud to say that we have figured out many of these zebras, and we have been able to come up with treatment plans allowing them to return to their normal and active lifestyle.
If you have a problem that others have not been able to figure out, then you might have one of the zebras we are talking about. Come in to see if we can find a solution to get you moving again!
Comments (1)
It is shorthand for the aphorism coined in the late 19 by Theodore Woodward, professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, who instructed his medical interns : “When you hear hoofbeats behind you, don’t expect to see a zebra”.