We get one body in which to live one life. One life, one body – just one. Our health is therefore extremely precious, and it is sadly taken for granted by many of us. We plod through our days, with many of us not paying too much attention to preserving or bettering our health. That is, until we get sick and decide we need to make a trip to the doctor, which more often than not results in a trip to the pharmacy.
The local GP and the local pharmacy are a critical part of our lives and of the healthcare system. But are we perhaps being more reactive than proactive about our healthcare?
There is evidence that with education and awareness some of us are beginning to make regular use of some of the ‘other’ healthcare professionals that are now readily available to us. I do know, however, that there remains a slight apprehension and reluctance for many of us to trial some of these modern day healthcare approaches. To help with this reluctance, and to enable you to feel a little more savvy about what each of these healthcare modalities is actually about, I’ve provided a bit of a breakdown below.
Osteopathy – Recognises the important connection between the structure and function of the human body. Osteopathy is an holistic approach which facilitates healing and optimal body function by focussing on the skeleton, muscles, joints, tendons, nerves, circulation, and internal organs as a unit. Osteopaths ill identify areas of dysfuction and treat these with stretching, massage, mobilisation, and manipulation.
Chiropractic – Is the fastest growing healthcare profession in the world. Chiropractic focusses on restoring or maintaining optimal body function by focussing on the spine and nervous system. Our nervous system controls every single function in our body. Daily stresses (both mental and physical) can cause blockages in your nervous system, therefore disrupting function and flow. By using massage, mobilisation, and manipulation, chiropractors will make small adjustments to your spine to enable the body to heal itself and perform to it’s best.
Physiotherapy – Is a healthcare modality that uses tried and tested techniques to assist in the restoration of movement or function where a patient has suffered an injury, disability, or health condition. A physiotherapist will assess, diagnose, and treat your current injuries, but can also be proactive in diagnosing areas that may be susceptible to injury and prescribe suitable strengthening exercises to remedy these.
Bowen Therapy – This multidimensional approach to restoring health and improving pain has had remarkable results. Bowen uses specific soft tissue and fascial release integration techniques that enable the body to correct (potential) dysfunctions and restore homeostasis. Bowen practitioners use no manipulation, adjustment or force. They use their thumbs and fingers to gentle move muscle and tissue. Bowen Therapy treats a wide spectrum of health ailments and is gaining popularity.
Massage Therapy –Massage therapists apply acupressure and other massage techniques to both superficial and deep layers of muscle and connective tissue. The aim of massage is to enhance function, lengthen muscles, reduce tension, decrease muscle reflex activity, promote relaxation, and to ultimately ensure the musculoskeletal system is harmonious and happy.
Naturopathy –This is a branch of medicine based on the healing power of nature. Naturopaths try to understand the cause of disease by understanding the body, mind and spirit of the person. Using a variety of therapies (nutrition, behaviour change, herbal medicine, acupuncture) naturpaths have two main areas of focus: 1) enhancing the body’s own healing abilities; and 2) promoting optimal health by empowering clients to make lifestyle changes.
Homeopathy – A system of medical therapy that uses very small doses of natural, earth-made remedies. Remedies are drawn from botanical, mineral and animal sources. The ‘natural’ state of these remedies assists in stimulating the body’s innate mechanisms to protect and heal itself. Homeopathy is based on the theory that ‘like cures like’. The natural remedy prescribed to a patient will have similar properties to the diagnosed disorder. This enables the body to return to balance as naturally as possible.
Exercise and Nutrition – Frankly, we all know we should be exercising on a regular basis and at a moderate to high intensity level. We also possess the knowledge to eat a little better than we do. I try to drill reasons to exercise and how to eat well into you on a fortnightly basis, so I need not expand on it too much here other than saying that the more you exercise and the better you eat, the better your health will be.
The main purpose of this article was to make you a little more aware of what the ‘other’ (sometimes called ‘alternative’) healthcare modalities are about, and how they can help you to be a little more proactive with your healthcare. The more we incorporate the various healthcare modalities into our lives, the greater our health will be, and the chances of us undergoing a major health scare will be significantly reduced. Look after your health my friends, it’s far too precious to ignore.
For comments email corinne@fitfixnz.co.nz
