As we begin the New Year let us recall what Benjamin Franklin counseled so many years ago: “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” The Chinese physician Chi Po expressed the same admonition differently in the medical classic written 5,000 years ago:
“To administer medicines to diseases which have already developed and to suppress revolts which have already developed is comparable to the behavior of those persons who begin to dig a well after they have become thirsty, and of those who begin to cast weapons after they have already engaged in battle. Would these actions not be too late?”
When we are well we often forget that one of the reasons we are feeling so good is that we had received supportive wellness care. Then we tend to go along in our lives until we land again in some kind of distress whether it be physical, mental/emotional or spiritual and are sent back to begin the uphill climb to wellness once more. Just yesterday a patient returned after 6 months absence with sciatic pain down both legs. He wondered why this was happening. When he got up off the table his pain was gone. I asked him, did he not understand that the regularity of treatments he had been receiving for 5 years had been managing the health of his legs and spine? He didn’t quite get it, but now he was starting to.
A good strategy might be to set for yourself a pattern of treatment throughout the year that sustains and supports your wellness. Whether it be massage, acupuncture, osteopathy, physical therapy, nutrition, counseling or a combination, a good rule of thumb is to receive seasonal treatment. This guide comes from the chinese medical classics as the best ounce of prevention.
Just like nature we require seasonal tending…..in winter we lie dormant and store; in spring we plant seeds and sprout; in summer we grow and flourish; in autumn we cleanse and clear. Prevention is to maintain the health of these ever changing capacities and functions within our bodies.
We look forward to partnering you in a preventive vision of health care.