After being an Osteopath for almost 13 years, the above question has been on my mind more and more. Not that I have been ignoring this question earlier in my career, however really thinking about and achieving clarity on this question was not in my daily thoughts when I started practicing. All I was thinking about was getting patient’s out of pain as quickly as I could.
Looking back on this attitude, clearly I thought pain relief was “the” marker of health. Clearly, it is NOT! Pain is often the LAST symptom to be felt by someone due to illness or injury, and often the FIRST symptom to be relieved with treatment (hands on treatment or medication). We live in a “break-fix” medical world, where if something hurts or we feel pain or discomfort, we seek medical advice. After we have no more pain or discomfort, we no longer seek medical advice. If it is not broke………… Unfortunately, this medical model does not promote HEALTH – it promotes NOT BEING……SICK.
So what is health? The answer to this will vary depending on whom you speak to, however it is an important question to answer – for client and practitioner alike.
At the Sports & Spinal Group, our mission is to empower our clients to live lifelong, active HEALTHY lifestyles – in essence to encourage and educate being HEALTHY for the LONGTERM. This is our why! HEALTH to us is so much more than being out of pain – we truly believe it should be being the best you can be physically and mentally so you can live a long, active life.
So, what is HEALTH to you?
