Be brutally honest about your health!

As an Osteopath working in Ottawa I tend to be at the end of the queque when it comes to who the general public come and see for their health care. 

Ottawa is a very conservative city health care wise in that most people are used to a very orthodox model to health which includes doctors, physiotherapists, chiropractors and massage therapists. Osteopaths are a rare breed in Ottawa, in fact there are only about 10 of us.

If you don't know what an osteopath is, it's a bit like a combination between a gentle chiropractor and massage therapist. Like those other professions we are taught how to manually realign peoples spine, joints and muscles in the hope that will bring them back to health.

Treating people physically is an important part of resolving peoples aches and pains but far from the whole story. As I mentioned at the beginning of this article people who seek my advice have often tried all the different types of physical therapies in an effort to resolve their health issues. When this is the case I am brutally honest with people in that me treating them physically is no different or better than the treatment they would have received from those other practitioners.

So what is the answer?

Imagine your body is a car and your bad back is a tyre that keeps wearing down on one side. What's the solution?

You change the worn tyre with a new one. Good as new!

Months later you look down at the tyre again and frustratingly it's worn again! This process like many peoples health issues can go on for years.

When looking at this problem a good mechanic who is worth their salt should be checking to see whether your tracking is aligned.

Let's assume you have a smart mechanic he is done that but still you appear at his door every 5-6 months with the same worn tyre. Your cars tracking as you would probably realise keeps your wheels in line. It is however a somewhat sensitive set up and can be fairly easily disturbed. Normal safe driving is fine for it but once you start to be thoughtless about where you drive your car then things can get misaligned. Driving over pot holes, hitting the curb or driving too fast over speed bumps are all good examples.

At this point the mechanic can now see the source of the problem  - THE DRIVER!

Like with most problems that occur with cars the health issues that occur with our bodies the source of the problem is the owner. We have just not looked after ourselves properly enough.

Like we drive through pot holes in road we might stay up too late. Like we skip that oil change we skip breakfast.

This is ok occasionally but on a regular basis you'll make your mechanic a rich man and your life an eventual misery. Like smart mechanics Osteopaths are taught to recognize how these are factors can effect your health  and they are going to tell you that in a nicely honest brutal way.

For some even nicely honest can be painful but if they want to change their health they have to be brutally honest with themselves!