This episode highlights the failings of modern medicine because it is focussed on pathology, the diagnosis, and management of diseases rather than on health education and health promotion.
This episode highlights the failings of modern medicine because it is focussed on pathology, the diagnosis, and management of diseases rather than on health education and health promotion.
Towards a Better & Healthier Nation.
We are at a tipping point, a crisis stage in our National Health Service. Everyone agrees it is no longer able to continue in its present form, this is not news as, over a decade ago when the King's Fund gave a presentation at the International Health Workers Conference in Brighton, they had been given a remit from the Government to find ways to change the NHS from a “sickness service” to a “health service”. The essence of their presentation was that this task was like turning a giant tanker around; not impossible but it takes a great effort and a long time. Fifteen years on and little has changed, except the situation is even more desperate now.
If we believe the NHS will not radically change in the future, what can those outside the confines of the NHS do themselves to improve the nation's health? There’s a growing interest amongst many doctors for encouraging lifestyle changes across the population to promote better health, it is called “lifestyle prescribing” but whatever the name given, lifestyle changes are fortunately outside the normal remit of our NHS. What are these lifestyle changes? They may include basic health promoting changes involving amongst other things, what we eat, how we exercise, how we breathe, how we relax and how we enjoy our lives as fully as possible. This is the field of expertise and experience of all those in the natural therapy world have established over the past many decades. These therapies offer a vast potential for changing the healthcare provision that is so urgently needed. All physical therapists including osteopaths, chiropractors, physiotherapists, sports massage therapists, Bowen Technique therapists, occupational therapists, cranio-sacral therapists and many more can develop and provide this service if they are given the right support by the public and government.
Some physical therapists are content with the service they offer and may accept all the constraints imposed on their practice of healthcare that their governing bodies impose upon them. There are those others who want to provide a far more holistic support for their patients and it is this group who would benefit from joining forces with other like-minded professionals to create a significant force for change. There is such an organization that seeks to provide just this form of association of the tens of thousands of physical therapists. It is called the Democratic Orthopathic Council or DOC. Only time will tell whether there is sufficient support for such a force for change, meanwhile perhaps the best advice one can give to everyone is learn how to be more responsible for your own health. If enough of us learn to make the necessary lifestyle changes, not only will we have a healthier nation, with less pressure on our NHS but also we shall be helping the survival of the planet. Now that’s worth a little effort for future generations!
This episode highlights the failings of modern medicine because it is focussed on pathology, the diagnosis, and management of diseases rather than on health education and health promotion.
Towards a Better & Healthier Nation.
We are at a tipping point, a crisis stage in our National Health Service. Everyone agrees it is no longer able to continue in its present form, this is not news as, over a decade ago when the King's Fund gave a presentation at the International Health Workers Conference in Brighton, they had been given a remit from the Government to find ways to change the NHS from a “sickness service” to a “health service”. The essence of their presentation was that this task was like turning a giant tanker around; not impossible but it takes a great effort and a long time. Fifteen years on and little has changed, except the situation is even more desperate now.
If we believe the NHS will not radically change in the future, what can those outside the confines of the NHS do themselves to improve the nation's health? There’s a growing interest amongst many doctors for encouraging lifestyle changes across the population to promote better health, it is called “lifestyle prescribing” but whatever the name given, lifestyle changes are fortunately outside the normal remit of our NHS. What are these lifestyle changes? They may include basic health promoting changes involving amongst other things, what we eat, how we exercise, how we breathe, how we relax and how we enjoy our lives as fully as possible. This is the field of expertise and experience of all those in the natural therapy world have established over the past many decades. These therapies offer a vast potential for changing the healthcare provision that is so urgently needed. All physical therapists including osteopaths, chiropractors, physiotherapists, sports massage therapists, Bowen Technique therapists, occupational therapists, cranio-sacral therapists and many more can develop and provide this service if they are given the right support by the public and government.
Some physical therapists are content with the service they offer and may accept all the constraints imposed on their practice of healthcare that their governing bodies impose upon them. There are those others who want to provide a far more holistic support for their patients and it is this group who would benefit from joining forces with other like-minded professionals to create a significant force for change. There is such an organization that seeks to provide just this form of association of the tens of thousands of physical therapists. It is called the Democratic Orthopathic Council or DOC. Only time will tell whether there is sufficient support for such a force for change, meanwhile perhaps the best advice one can give to everyone is learn how to be more responsible for your own health. If enough of us learn to make the necessary lifestyle changes, not only will we have a healthier nation, with less pressure on our NHS but also we shall be helping the survival of the planet. Now that’s worth a little effort for future generations!