Sometimes patients are surprised that I ask them about all aspects of their systems in the body, old injuries and accidents and even their emotional situation.
I absolutely understand that when you meet a person for the first time (even when it is a health professional) it feel weird to share all this personal information. So this is why I thought it would be great to get deeper into the reasons behind my questions.
Basically I am aiming to get a full chronological picture of all body systems. Meaning: nervous system, digestive system, structural (muscles, fascial bones), circulatory system, hormonal system and organs.
In general I will start by asking why you have come to see me as this is obviously your reason to be here and the issue you want to get rid of. Then after that I will ask questions to get a full picture of the state your body and mind are in currently.
History taking is not only important to get a first idea of the where the problem might stem from but also is absolutely necessary to exclude pathologies that need to be examine further by a different health professional. So it's also a safety precaution. We call it clinical reasoning. Even if you come with a diagnosis of a doctor I will still go the same path (including all exams that have already been done like bloodwork, xray, MRI etc) and may even order more exams if I think it is absolutely crucial for your case. I have diagnosed fractures in the past that had been missed im the ER so always better to treat every patient as if he had never seen any doctor before on this issue.
Osteopathy (the way I was trained and practice it) always aims to get to the root of the problem and solve it where it started. Sometimes that is not quite possible but even then I can optimize body functions when I find out what causes your pain/discomfort.
All this can sometimes be very complex, also because the studying of the human body is a life-long task. But this is what keeps me interested and fascinated with my daily work.