Dr. Andrew Weil is well known in the alternative health care field. He was named one of the world’s 100 most influential people by Time magazine in 2005. Dr. Weil is among a growing number of health care practitioners, including doctors of chiropractic, advocating a holistic approach to patient care that moves beyond the medication-only conventional medical model and recognizes the power of the human body in health and healing.
Recently, Dr. Weil took time to answer a few questions about topics central to chiropractic care, including the innate power of healing and dealing with modern life using a drug-free approach. Here’s some of what he had to say:
“At the root of good healthcare is an acceptance of each person’s responsibility for her or his own health. Identify and work with a good primary care physician (or chiropractor….Dr. Taylor’s addition) with whom you can engage in a healing partnership and get credible assistance with developing a personalized healthy diet and lifestyle program to prevent illness and optimize health. Then maintain that program as best you can for the rest of your life.”
“I define integrative medicine as healing oriented medicine that takes account of the whole person (body, mind and spirit), including all aspects of diet and lifestyle. Mind and body are inseparable. Most experts now believe that longstanding emotional disturbances can elicit inflammatory changes in the physical body, and chronic inflammation is the root cause of many serious illnesses, especially those related to aging.”
“Practitioners of conventional medicine are perhaps even more fed up than patients with the drug-only approach to preventing and treating illness. Most doctors today are hungry to learn more about the mind-body continuum and how they can better help patients access their innate healing capacity.”
“Therapeutic approaches that as recently as a few years ago were difficult to access in a conventional medical setting, such as meditation and acupuncture, are now recommended by medical doctors on a regular basis, and research supporting complete healing systems, such as Oriental Medicine and a range of complementary and alternative (CAM) therapies is included in some of the finest medical journals and textbooks in the world”.
“The core curriculum offered at most conventional medical, nursing and pharmacy schools focus almost exclusively on disease management and intervention, not on health, disease prevention, or CAM therapies. No future doctor should leave training without a working concept of health, an in-depth understanding of the importance of healthy dietary and lifestyle measures, and an appreciation for the therapeutic potential inherent in healing traditions from around the world, as well as good conventional medical treatment.”
Powerful thoughts by a medical doctor who has taken a stand to look outside the conventional medical model box and found a wealth of truth that is too compelling to be ignored. The chiropractic philosophy has been emphasizing many of these concepts for over 100 years. So, talk to your chiropractor about the power of the human body and how they – and you – can optimize its potential.
