As the health-care debate or as I call it “disease-care” continues to rage in America, infecting and offending people in Canada and England through lies and mis-information. I’d like to offer some useful information to help our readers discern what good health care is about.

Health-care does not mean that every imbalance requires an MRI, [...]]]> As the health-care debate or as I call it “disease-care” continues to rage in America, infecting and offending people in Canada and England through lies and mis-information. I’d like to offer some useful information to help our readers discern what good health care is about.

Health-care does not mean that every imbalance requires an MRI, expensive medications and surgery.  Conversly banishing all invasive procedures, medications and all physicians as some in the alternative health care field would have you believe isn’t the solution either. Holistic health-care does not mean that you become a Luddite, a tree hugger or rely solely on psychic powers.

An integrative medicinal approach to health means approaching health issues with the least invasive procedure and gradually progressing to more invasive procedures after careful assessment allowing for time. Integrative medicine uses all possible means available to assess and treat a person.  Assesment requires questioning, observation, intuition, and tests.  Treatment may begin with relaxation exercises through energy medicine, reiki, nutriments, medications and finally operations.

Did you know that Traditional Chinese Medicine works in this manner?  As a matter of fact, using accupuncture in TCM is one of the most invasive procedures a practioner can do .  A true practitioner begins with non-invasive procedures such as diet and exercise then continues on to herbs, massage and finally accupuncture.  Here in the west, we go “straight for the kill”.  We suffer from “getter dun syndrome”, which doesn’t account for the elegance of our biology and physiology.

We suffer from industrial age thinking.  When something falls apart, we break it down to its smallest pieces, fix the pieces or replace them, then put it back together again.  Henry Ford helped develop an efficient way to make cars, he also created the specialist. Now we have specialists for different parts of our bodies and lives.   Our thinking is wrong.  Our bodies are not machines.  They are biological intelligent organisms.  A machine may mimic the body, a computer may mimic the brain, not the other way around.  Our approach to health care shouldn’t mimic a body shop.  Unfortunately our current system of “disease-care” functions in this exact manner.

I recently read an excellent blog post by Dr. Andrew Weil about how our healthcare industrial complex has subverted the elegence of our biology and created high tech solutions with frightening names for common ailments that require simple lifestyle changes.

Integrative medicine allows for the elegance of our body/mind complex.  Your health and lack of health is a whole intelligent system.   Our disease care system would have you think otherwise.