What is good health?
This is an interesting question and not an easy one to answer. Everyone has
their own viewpoint on health, so let us look at it from a few definitions:
World Health Organization - “Health is a state
of complete physical, mental and social well being and not just merely the
absence of disease or infirmity”.
The Office of economics states: “A person should
be regarded healthy provided he can remain socially and economically active,
even though he may have to suffer some health disability or discomfort.”
Any lay person – good health is that thing you
take for granted until it is not there anymore.
These all used the suffering as a point of reference; however there is one
that uses homoeostasis (see below) as a point of reference:
Jacques De Cotes (former president of the French Osteopathic
Association): “Good health is not a state but a search for
equilibrium”.
Orthodox medicine has a very ‘reductionist’ model of disease: if you have a skin condition, you are referred to a dermatologist; if you have a digestive disorder you are directed to a gastroenterologist; hence all the specialist departments in hospitals. Many books exist on disease: symptoms and signs, and pathology right down to organ level and even molecular level, but no orthodox medical books exist on healing, and use of the word ‘healing’ may even be frowned upon by orthodox medicine. This creates a curious situation: orthodox medicine holds the principal opinion on health, but focuses only on disease. However, the body has an in-built ability to maintain health; it knows what is supposed to be going on, and knows what to do about it if something happens.
The word Homoeostasis (Greek: homeo – same, stasis –
staying still) is used in physiology. It describes the body’s ability
to maintain relatively stable internal conditions even though the outside
world is continually changing. Even though it means ‘unchanging’,
it actually indicates a dynamic state of equilibrium, or balance, in which
internal conditions change and vary, but always within very narrow limits.
Homeostasis can be seen as an expression of a person’s good health.
Acute disease occurs when homeostasis is functioning well and is working hard
to re-establish itself. If you eat something that is potentially toxic (e.g.
a dodgy prawn) the body will react rapidly to eliminate it from the body via
vomiting and diarrhoea. Yes you are violently ill, but it for a good reason.
Chronic disease occurs when homeostasis is trying hard, but effectively fails.
Both of these can be seen in people’s subjective symptoms; about which
people only seek medical attention when those symptoms actually trouble
them.
What is disease?
Princeton – An impairment or condition of abnormal functioning
Wikipedia – any abnormal condition of the body or mind that causes
discomfort, dysfunction, or distress to the person affected of those in contact
with the person. Sometimes the term is used broadly to include injuries, disabilities,
syndromes, symptoms, deviant behaviours, and atypical variations of structure
and function, while in other contexts these may be considered distinguishable
categories.
People only attend a medical practitioner when they feel ill, or have ‘something wrong’. They have a suffering and want it taken away. This is a person’s expectation.
I am an osteopath. People attend my clinic usually because they have pain.
When they stop having pain, they stop attending. This could be regarded as
normal. But is a person actually better?
What is healing?
1. To restore
to health or soundness; cure
2. To set right; repair
3. To restore (a person) to spiritual wholeness
Healing is a function of our inherent healing mechanism, though it is usually seen as something that is done to you. This is deeply engrained in our culture. All diseases are regarded as invading entities, and equally such entities are removed by someone else; ‘I was healed’. People are largely ignorant of their own inherent healing mechanism – mainly because the culture teaches something else; invading entities.
In truth, no matter what treatment we have, after it we still have to heal.
Even if we do need help in the form of a course of antibiotics, we still have
to heal. Drugs like antibiotics do kill bacteria, but if that was all that
happened, at the end of it we would still have a population of dead bacteria
floating around inside us. It is our inherent healing mechanism,
working through our immune system, which mops up all the baddies and their
dead debris. So what does it mean to get better?
What is cure?
The word ‘cure’ derives from the Latin word ‘cura’ meaning care, concern or attention. The current use of the word cure is believed to reflect the belief that the right care, concern or attention was tantamount to a cure.
How do we see cure:
1) To heal, to make well, to restore to good health. Cures are easy to claim
and, all too often, difficult to confirm.
2) The time without recurrence of a disease so that the risk of recurrence
is small; as in the 5 year cure rate for malignant melanoma
3) Particularly in the past; a course of treatment, for example take a cure
at a spa
Giving the body the attention it wants
This should really be phrased; giving the person the attention they need.
Therapeutic intent is of great importance in any situation concerning
treatment. The analogy of getting your loved one a present, bought with the
greatest love and intent is appropriate here. You can buy it, wrap it beautifully
and present it on the day, but if it is not what they want, they may say,
“That’s very nice dear. Did you keep the receipt?”
People may have preconceived ideas (an agenda) when they attend an osteopath:
)" I had a disc manipulated once and it worked then; do it again”,
)" Go to the place of the pain and take it away “,
)" Put the bone back into place”,
)" You make me well”,
)" I don't care what you do as long as you take the pain away”.
Considering all this, it can be seen that good health, disease, healing and cure are all inherent functions within us.
But what does the body want to help to facilitate the re-establishment of homoeostasis?
There can be many facets of health: diet, posture, stress, exercise, visceral
elements, emotional elements, and old traumata stored in the body, each with
their emotional content. Equally there can be several facets that need attention
in the person’s journey towards health
