What Exactly Does “Healthy” Mean Anyway?

By Dr. Trina Ting

According to the World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) definition of health: “It is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity.”

World Health Day is noted by WHO every April 7, so this is an apt moment to discuss what health is and how we can be closer to that optimal state. I think going through a 3 year pandemic has shown us that even if you are COVID-free, if you are suffering from depression from the lockdowns, that you would be far from the optimal picture of health.

The truth is, chiropractic care when started and developed in the late 1800s, holds this as one of it’s core principles. Chiropractic doctors take an oath not simply do no harm, but here is part of the oath we take:

“I will light the way to the understanding of those natural laws which preserve the human body as a fitting temple of the soul."

“I will keep the physical, mental and spiritual needs of the sick as my foremost duty, ever searching for and correcting the cause of their disease.”

It is ingrained in us as chiropractors to look at the person as a whole physical, mental, and spiritual being. We cannot simply just treat your back: we need to take your physical findings into context with everything else going on in your life.

So how can you best utilize chiropractic care as one of the key steps to becoming truly healthy? Here are some tips you can use:

1. Consider not just the physical causes: I would estimate 50% of patients with sudden onset of symptoms tell me, “The pain just started out of nowhere.”

While physical causes are the first thing we look for, it’s not the last cause we examine. While we are not licensed psychologists or therapists, we will ask what has been going on in your life lately. Is there exceptional stress or a sudden life change? The human body can produce illness in various forms, most of which often shows up as pain somewhere in the body, during such times. We respect your privacy and would never discuss something you are not ready to talk about, but we are here to listen with empathy and to better understand how to get to the bottom of your symptoms. We cannot figure out “How” without fully understanding “Why”.

2. Have these symptoms been recurrent and ongoing for more than 6 weeks? If so, be prepared to wait for the healing process to show results and be prepared to do the work.

There is the long-held belief by some people who have never seen a chiropractor that chiropractic care requires unnecessary and lifetime visits. There are multiple things to consider about that myth, but with regards to truly achieving health (ie, not just getting rid of the symptoms), one must accept the fact that something that has taken weeks or years to appear, may take as long or longer, to go away. This does not mean that treatments don’t work. I repeat: this does NOT mean that treatments, whether it be physio, chiropractic, massage for example, don’t work. It means it takes time for the body to heal. You have to do the right things in addition to treatments: it means do the stretche