My Health Philosophy

People are often confused about my philosophy when I speak about health. They assume I’m into herbs or supplements or naturopathy. All they know is when someone is against allopathic medicine (Western medicine), then they must be for alternative medicine. I’m not a fan of any “medicine.” My philosophy can best be demonstrated by the following injury.

This past winter I stepped onto the wooden porch of my shop too quickly and without thought and slipped on the ice. My feet flew out from under me and I landed on the stairs, my left mid-back right below the ribs crashing onto the edge of the wooden stair. The pain was excrutiating. It took awhile to get up but I had to because it was very cold.

The muscles affected were primarily responsible for supporting my back and lifting my left leg. It was painful walking up stairs, getting into and out of my car, and getting up from the sofa or from lying down. I had to slide off the edge of the bed for a week, fall slowly onto the floor, and get up from there. Rolling over in bed was very painful and took a long time.

I had to take shipments to the post office, and when I hobbled in the postal clerk asked what happened. I lifted my shirt and showed him my back where he saw a long angry scrape. He asked, “Do you have anything to put on that?” I didn’t understand the question. Why put anything on it? My body would heal the torn skin. That’s what it was designed to do. I don’t think I’ve ever used antibiotic ointments and I get cut all the time.

Later in the day I managed to lift my legs into my car to get to an appointment with my accountant. When I explained to him what I had done he said, “You should get rolfed.” His intention was good, but the last thing my damaged tissue needed was someone pressing on it.

Then I shuffled over to the woman who was going to set up my payroll. When I explained to her what happened she asked, “Are you going to the doctor for anti-inflammatories?” My face scrunched up in a look of confusion as I asked, “Why would I want to do that? Inflammation is how my body is healing the injury? Why would I want to stop that?” I might as well have said, “Ruhkdh ruinlclu atrue n oadfun euhnfl.” This concept was so foreign to her, that her mind just shut down in incomprehension.

That evening I spoke with my sister. When I told her about the fall she said, “You should go to the doctor and get some pain killers and muscle relaxers.” I replied, “But pain is how my body signals its limits. It keeps me from further damaging myself and it’s forcing me to rest. Why would I want to silence this important signal through drugs?” My sister then admitted to me how she had once hurt her back, took pain pills, painted her living room and lived to regret it.

In each encounter someone gave me medical advice. This is a favored American pastime. Everybody’s an expert. Tell anybody you’re sick and they’ll offer all the lousy advice you’re willing to listen to, most of it paid for by the pharmaceutical industry. So it’s no surprise that three of the four recommendations were for pharmaceuticals. All recommended interference. Amazing that our species has survived lo these millions of years without drugs!

I believe in the philosophy of natural hygiene, that health is obtained through healthy living, and that the body has innate wisdom with which to heal itself and reach homeostasis. My back is just fine now, thank you. And it healed in a lot less time than it would have had I interfered by ingesting anti-inflammatories, muscle relaxers, pain killers, and god knows what else the doctor would have prescribed.

Trust the body.