I had an grounding conversation with Dr Pat Massey. For those of you who know me, I followed Pat from the 90's forward when I came across Alexian Brothers article about a doc that taught Tai Chi to patients with "Failed Back Syndrome" and got them off their medicines feeling no pain. This syndrome is when a patient goes through major surgery to correct an acquired defect and either; has persistent symptoms or suffers more than before surgery. I had just finished my Sports Medicine Fellowship in 1995 and felt very empowered as a primary care physician with "extra training" to have a more tools in my toolbox for problem solving disease manifestation in patients (see Annual Sickness Visit post).
Nutrition wasn't sexy in the 90's and physical medicine was booming. Rehab, trigger point understanding, exercise (marathon training and working out at Bally's) was the rage as some folks were able to take a non doctor modality (fitness) and apply it to alleviate some key deficiencies in American lifestyle. Just by adapting this available form of exercise, a small percentage of people were bitten by the running bug and reversed the onset of hypertension, high cholesterol and heavier weight. I don't mention Bally's memberships as only a sliver of gymrats have grandfathered into the newer expressions of working out at all in one 24 hour gyms. In fact the average person that jogs will run year round, the average person that exercises in a gym will weight training for a few weeks after Holiday eating. So by default, weight training on your own will be a temporary modality pulled out when inspired to attack new years resolutions.
My theory is that the runners high (endorphine and enkephalin secretion) makes people feel euphoric, is addicting and DOES NOT require vast knowledge on what to do. No matter what speed you run (even hike) the feeling from the event;
-keeps you in the moment (erasing the need to ruminate on the laundry list of things to do that day),
-gives you a bump of invincible-hormone (as our genetic code rewards the endeavor with the neurotransmitters to solidify that this habit will preserve the species so do said act again),
-moves stretches and perfuses muscle with oxygen to take away muscle stiffness, lower blood glucose and increase sex hormone,
-reinforces circadian rhythm to induce a deeper refreshing sleep (resulting in repairing trained muscle and reinforcing neural tracts to adapt new coping skills learned during the day)
The post work-out high:
-gives you a bump of invincible-hormone
-sometimes reinforces circadian rhythm (but highly depends on what stimulant you use to get through the work out -ie caffeine, red bull sugar, metallica ...)
...thus the high quit rate with working out UNLESS YOU GET SOMEONE TO DESIGN/REDESIGN and keep you on task!!!
Now that nutrition has: multiple authors, weight loss centers, patented box diets and supplement companies that have the newest Dr Oz vitamin for slimming waist line, the American public has kinda made nutrition education a needed modality to build up. Since the hospital systems do not acknowledge personal nutrition design as a domain they control...the Nutraceutical/fitness industry has taken it over. Note I said “kinda” as most Americans will not read a text cover to cover and just adapt the cliff notes on a nutrition practice from watching a YouTube video. (Super biased and sometimes poorly interpreted by vloggers that may or may not have a nutrition background).
So now the average citizen has 3 modalities that can be used to reverse/prevent disease manifestation. One roadblock is that for the power of nutrition change to take effect, its not as easy to find your groove as putting on a pair of running shoes and going outside.
-Nutrition has to be personally designed
-Weight training has to be personally designed
-Running can be initiated and fine tuned even by a high school runner
Insurance based medicine doesn't cover nutrition counseling unless you have crossed over and been rewarded with the label of diabetic or heart stent candidate or cancer patient!!!
Insurance based medicine doesn't cover exercise unless you have acquired an acl tear, back spasm, shoulder impingement or an overuse injury from work.
Medical insurance was supposed to be used "just in case" a catastrophic event occurs, that way you are ‘insured‘ to not go bankrupt or get turned away by a hospital. Now a days patients rely on medical insurance to cover an annual wellness visit (see Annual Sickness Visit) at which point the laundry list of issues are brought to the doctor to address and inevitably either doc says "don't worry about that one-trust me" or s/he proceeds to give a pill/referal to address the remainder of the complaints. My theory is medical school and residency is jam packed with curriculum now with the advent of electronic medical records and there is no time to teach lifesaving nutrition, exercise prescription (even some orthopedic specialists) or cultivation of mindful practice. These 3 key components are how blue zone citizens reach the age of 100+ while maintaining independence, bladder function and memory.
Luckily these modalities can be undertaken without a doctor BUT the more efficient way to engage change is to have investment in a coach to teach, apply, adapt and refine to the individual. If you have a favorite author then you may be able to try on the practice IF you read cover to cover and have a good fund of knowledge. As I alluded to earlier America has become fixated on social media and watching a book is easier than reading one. Condensing long concepts are like cherry picking your data to invent a new law of thermodynamics.
This brings me right back to my original sentence, my conversation with Dr Massey. He preceded me to develop a footprint in the area for "a different type of medical practice". He also confided in me that he took a lot of bumps in attempting to intertwine successful life changing protocols to the confines of a hospital system (JUST LIKE MY LIFESTYLE CLINIC BLUE PRINTS WHICH I WAS TOLD WOULDN’T WORK THEN SUDDENLY THERES A WEIGHT LOSS CLINIC?!!) I am now convinced if you try to sell a screw driver user a new tool called a hammer, they will look at you like you're speaking a foreign language. I have finished the gauntlet of learning to use the screwdriver, the hammer, the flash light the prybar and the glue stick (and will continue to adapt newer tools as the horizon demands) and I feel penalized when I wield these tools like a martial artist of lifestyle design. I guess it was inevitable to butt heads with "standard practice" when I embraced "alternative and complimentary approaches. I was hoping to just maintain a regular paycheck and do what I feel was right (on the down low) as my contemporaries still look at me like I'm speaking a foreign language when I speak of energy medicine, yoga breath, supplement effects, gut microbiota, medical cannabis application and "hand holding".
Looking back to last week, if felt so wrong in taking care of my patients and:
-NOT going over the allotted time for a visit
-NOT suggesting weaning down on pain meds/weaning up on medical cannabis
-NOT providing lifestyle coaching outside of insurance reimbursement
-NOT suggesting looking at my youtube tutorials to educate
The root word of doctor is “docere” which means To Teach.
The root word of patient is “patiens” which means To Suffer or Bear
The root word of heal means To Make Whole...I do not agree with a drug or a surgery to make you Whole (drugs/procedures maybe necessary to stop severity of suffering but the next step should always be taught!)...there are a few primary care docs who practice from the heart but its only a matter of time before comparison is made to the performance of all other US docs with speed medicine (lazy medicine)...at which point you “eat what you kill”...(if you dont want to see high volume-then you will need to moonlight to pay the bills)
The true healers I am collaborating with are good at what they do since they can’t rely on screwdrivers. I am sharing my tools with my new team to develop a parallel option to the embedded disease care system (see Annual Sickness Visit). Looking forward to the future, I feel so RIGHT to dive 110% into all things NOT suggested within the walls of a hospital system. I am now unemployed (which is not the first time -thanks to medical insurance reimbursement!!!) but I am unafraid as the warriors that have reversed there suffering under my care are sending out threads of compassion to sew my proverbial parachute.
2020 is life changing!!! #fallingwithstyle
