True health is simple, don't let them confuse you!

What is the difference between health care, maintenance care and crisis care?

Most of what is currently thought of as health care is really what we should consider crisis care. If we look to our very own precious NHS. The name implies that it's a service that aims to help the nation move towards health. If you look around at our country, would you say overall it's healthy or sick? The NHS saves lives, no doubt, but does it move people towards being the healthiest versions of themselves. My family and I have all benefited from the great work that the NHS delivers. 

However, there is a fundamental difference between moving away from sickness as opposed and moving towards health. Although both might seem to be moving in the same direction on the spectrum between illness and health, principally, it is not the same thing. 

There is only one path that leads to longevity and happiness, and quality of your life. BECAUSE YOUR QUALITY OF LIFE IS DIRECTLY RELATED TO THE QUALITY OF YOUR HEALTH. 

Let's be perfectly honest with each other; drugs, surgery, alternative therapists and even lifestyle changes can all be forms of crisis care. Just because I am a Chiropractor, I don't presume that everybody coming to the clinic is coming because they woke up one day and, thought "Today, I want to elevate my health" In fact, the opposite is true. Most people that come to me are coming because they are in need of CRISIS CARE. 

The great thing about Chiropractic, though, is that it is one of the most efficient ways to help somebody move away from DIS-EASE and then progress and move towards health. At that threshold, where you begin to feel less pain and function better, you can then transition into something new. A little more about that later. 

We have this cultural conditioning that revolves around this idea that you wait until you have a problem that you can label and then try and do something about it, and then something you do is designed purely to try and remove that label. 

In other words, you have high blood pressure, so you take a pill to reduce your blood pressure, you have diabetes, so you take medications to try and normalise your blood sugar, you are overweight, so you exercise to get your weight down, you have back pain, so you see a chiropractor and try and remove the pain. All of these are short-term solutions designed purely to eradicate symptoms. 

Now there is nothing wrong with that, so long as you understand what you are doing. However, it is never going to get you healthy. In fact, that is not even the aim, but it may help reduce your symptoms and may even save your life.

I like to think of our health similar to a house plant. NOW, I AM TERRIBLE AT KEEPING HOUSE PLANTS, but being careless with it actually led me to this understanding. Every dead plant has taught me something fundamental about health. By the time you see your house plant withering and going brown, is this because you didn't water the plant yesterday, or the day before, or even the week early? No, it's because there has been no maintenance care for about a month or so. It became apparent to me that lack of water was my main issue. Crises care with a plant is very difficult. There is no quick fix. You can't just give it triple the amount of water and double the nutrients and blast unique lights to get them flowering healthier. However, if you catch them in time, depending on how far gone they are, it could take a month or two before the lush green leaves look plump and full of life again. 

Crises care for house plants really boils down to, buy a new plant, but that costs money and is unsustainable and is a waste of time because if I don't fix the root cause (watering the plant), they will keep on dying, and I will have to keep buying new plants - if I want to maintain a Natural looking space in my house. 

Maintenance care, on the other hand, is about prevention. It is about attempting to do enough of the right things to not end up needing crisis care. Water it with the correct frequency and give it the light it requires. 

Plants are a lot simpler than our bodies. In our case, we might exercise just enough so that you don't become overweight, you may take ongoing medications so that you don't get asthma or you may drink just enough water so that you don't get sick, or you may see a chiropractor to prevent your back from hurting. But, of course, prevention is always better than cure, so maintenance care is a great way to reduce your risk of needing crisis care, but it still doesn't help you get your body functioning at 100%.

Proper health (wellness) care, on the other hand, should be about getting your body as healthy as it can be regardless of symptoms or labels or tests. 

I will refer to this as wellness care from here on out, because the term 'health' has been corrupted to mean so many different things, many of which have nothing to do with natural health. 

This blog is inspired by many of my favourite health teachers, So a big thank you to Dr Brett Hill first of all for this motivation to share a critical story. Dr Hill wrote a book called "How to eat an elephant". When I opened this book for the first time, I knew that this would be it if I was to ever write a book. So I do give a lot of credit to him for laying the groundwork for me. 

Now, I'm going to dive deeper into the topics of how to get healthier than you ever have before. 

We will be covering some fundamentals through this blog, which will revolve around eating, thinking, and moving to the best level that you possibly can. Not just so that you don't get sick but so that you perform as close as possible to 100%.

You eat well because you know that is the fuel your body needs. 

You exercise regularly because you know it is a requirement for a healthy body. 

You think positive thoughts because you know they nourish you deeply, and you see a chiropractor to remove interference from your nervous system because you know that is a vital part of being well. 

Now, of course, if you do that, then you will naturally be a healthier weight, you will naturally have more energy and sleep better, you will naturally have fewer symptoms, and you will be much less likely to get sick and therefore need any form of crisis care. 

This is about simple solutions: you can gradually and sustainably change your lifestyle to the point where you will have health and wellness that you probably don't even realise is possible. 

How you treat your body today will make absolutely no difference to the current state of your body today. That sucks, I know - but bear with me here. What you do today will have an astronomical impact on the state of your body in 3, 6 and 9 months and 2, 5 and 10 years. And if you can't grasp that.. Then PLEASE, PLEASE PLEASE keep reading because you'll need this the most. We need to leave this world healthier than we came into it. Otherwise, WHAT IS THE POINT to it all? 

I look forward to connecting with you on this journey.

ALWAYS HUMBLE

Rob Firth

Chiropractor & Friend