Often times, people go through a day, or a week, or even years feeling out of sorts, without the kind of energy and vitality they used to have. Our day-to-day lives are full of activity, stresses, and aggravations of various types, all of which can drain us. Add to that the various physical stresses we encounter with environments that are less than clean and our pushing ourselves beyond our bodies´ limits, and we can lose our vitality and balance. It isn´t that we are sick or have an injury; it´s just that we are run down in some way or not somehow living up to our potential. The goal of the "wellness" portion of my practice is to help patients in establishing and maintaining their full health.
Wellness care helps to put patients back on track. This is more than a treatment plan. Wellness care is about developing the practices and habits that will improve and enhance our health and using them on a daily basis. Our bodies are continually making choices, and the purpose of wellness care is to be sure that the body has what it needs to maximize its function. For the patient, this care is about expanding one´s ability to understand and create his/her own health. By experiencing and learning various strategies, the patient can become more pro-active in his/her own health.
As a doctor, I use various approaches to help create the function and balance needed. Among the strategies I use are manipulating bones and muscles, balancing nutrition, and balancing hormonal systems. When needed, I work to clear any blockages and imbalances. Clearing such congestion allows the body to function more strongly and effectively. Overall, this approach provides the kind of support that allows for full functioning and quicker recovery from illness or exposure. In addition, it provides the kind of support that allows people to create or recapture the vitality and potential that goes with full health.
Patients can learn a variety of information and strategies. Perhaps the most important tool they can develop is that of understanding and communicating with their bodies. One of the biggest blocks to health is often our misunderstanding of what the body needs. In our rush to get through the moment, activity or day, we often ignore the information our bodies give us about what they need. Another complicator is that we sometimes misunderstand what the body is telling us. Cravings, for example, are an important indicator of the body needing something, though not always what it appears to want. Such misreadings can exacerbate a condition or situation just when we are trying to fix it. By learning to listen more carefully and more accurately to what the body is telling us, we can respond in a more helpful and supportive way.
Other strategies that patients can learn have to do with nutrition, exercise, ways to approach situations, activities and people, and how to listen to one´s own inner self. All of these strategies improve not only the more obvious dimension of immediate physical health, they also serve as important bases in expanding one´s potential.