Pacific Way Wellness Center

Health Newsletter - April 2010

     

                The Triad of Health

Here at Pacific Way Wellness Center we take a holistic approach to illness and health, considering a wide range of factors in treating patients. But what does that mean, really, and how do natural practitioners go about restoring health in their patients?

One important natural health philosophy can be summed up in something chiropractors call the “Triad of Health.” It's one basis of diagnosis, the “detective work” of finding out what's causing illness in patients. The Triad is often depicted graphically as an equilateral triangle, with the three legs being Structural, Chemical and Emotional (or Spiritual) Health. The equal lengths of each side of the triangle mean something as well – that all three facets of wellness are equally essential. Together, and balanced in proportion, these three factors add up to a healthy person. Let's take a look at each of them, how they fit together, and why each is so important.

Structural Health

 

    Structural health is the nuts and bolts of chiropractic care, and perhaps that is why it's depicted as the base of the Triad triangle.             Structural health is about the relationship between the many bones, joints, and other connective tissue that make up our bodies.             Sometimes a patient will suffer a specific trauma that sends them to their chiropractor, like an injured back. They are driven to see         the doctor because they are in pain. They are seeking to regain the “joyful motion” of being able to move freely.

 

    Even if you are not in pain at all, your body could be sufficiently out of alignment to be causing that structural leg of your triangle to     tilt your system into a less than optimum state. This truth is why chiropractors encourage patients to get regular ongoing care. They     understand the importance of tuning up your physical body, keeping it properly aligned in response to the stresses and strains of daily     life. Even normal actions like sitting at a desk, driving a car, picking up a child, or standing for long hours on the job can wreak             havoc on the body.

 

    Prudent car owners, for instance, maintain their autos regularly, doing oil changes and tune- ups well before the car is broken down.     Auto experts say this approach is the best way to get your car to last a long time. The same thing applies to health. Regular                 chiropractic care is personal structural maintenance - a way of keeping the body, your most important vehicle, in good working             order.

 

    There's a lot to keep in balance there. While most people think of the back when they think of chiropractic, the body has more than     200 bones in it and many more joints, including more than 100 joints in the spine alone. And the spine is just one component of the     larger system. Knees, feet, and other parts of the body can be out of alignment as well and contribute to imbalance. Sometimes the     body part that hurts is just a symptom of problems elsewhere in the body. Chiropractors are trained to track down such “mysteries”     and restore balance to the structural leg of the triad of health.

 

Chemical Health

 

    Chemical is a word with many connotations that conjures up mental images of lab equipment and industry. But the natural medicine     meaning of the word refers to chemical balance in the body. In this case, we're talking about nutrition, diet, and human biochemistry.     Many illnesses, mental and physical, can be caused by chemical imbalances in the body. The way we nurture a balanced body             chemically is to eat a healthful diet and reduce the toxic load of foreign substances that can come our way from sources like                 pollution, food additives, and drugs.

 

    How do we go about doing this? Some of it is common sense like eating “real food”, ideally organic and/or locally grown, that hasn't     been treated with pesticides and drinking water that is free of dissolved contaminants. But every individual has specific needs. Some     examples include hidden digestive issues that may be keeping you from getting all the nutrients in your diet. Or food allergies that         may be causing stress within your body. Your body may be struggling with accumulated toxins from a lifetime of eating processed         foods.

 

    Being a conscious eater means reading labels and taking personal responsibility for what you put into your system. No doctor can be     by your side 24/7 to make sure you aren't mucking up your internal system with a load of junk. This is one area where you can             really make a meaningful contribution to your Triad of Health, by caring about and noticing what you eat. Simply cutting down or         eliminating sugar and high fructose corn syrup from your diet can be a big boost to health and balance, but these are hidden in so         many foods that careful label-reading becomes an essential skill in avoiding them. Drinking enough water is another health booster.

 

    You don't have to navigate the waters of proper eating all by yourself. You can get valuable advice from your health practitioner         about how to eat more healthfully. But the bottom line is that you are the one who controls what is on that fork traveling to your         mouth, or in that cup, glass, bottle, or can you're about to drink from. Without balance in this vital chemical arena of health, you are     risking an imbalance that structural adjustments cannot fully compensate for.

 

Mental or Spiritual Health

 

    Much has been written about the power of positive thinking. Some schools of thought say that we actually create our own reality         with the force and influence of our thought patterns. When it comes to wellness, natural health practitioners know that mental health     is part of the Triad for a reason. It matters how you feel about life and what your state of mind is as you go through your day.

 

    Like the other two legs of the triangle, abundant good mental health requires nurturing and regular tune-ups. Serious psychological         disorders aside, most people can encourage their own mental health and avoid debilitating depression and other problems by taking a     maintenance approach to their own emotional health. What are you doing to keep your “lively spirit”? When was the last time you     really had fun? What do you do on a regular basis to enjoy life? Are you taking prescription or other drugs to make life bearable or to     fall asleep at night? Answers to these questions will give you an indicator about whether your Triad of Health is in balance or in need     of some maintenance.

 

All three legs of the Triad of Health are inextricably linked. For instance, common health problems like food sensitivity, blood sugar imbalance, and nutritional deficiencies (chemical issues) can cause alignment problems (structural), and affect mood and motivation (mental), sometimes severely. This is likely true for just about any illness. That's why the “specialist” approach common in the allopathic medical community often doesn't work well long-term. And treating symptoms with drugs can sometimes just mask the problem, while the imbalance that caused it remains.

 

But to keep all three legs of the triangle working for your own continued abundant health, remember always that the choices you make, from choosing to see your practitioner, eating a healthful meal, and leading a rewarding life, have the biggest impact on your quality of life. Seeking to improve the quality of our food, physical activity, and emotional state is beneficial to ourselves, our communities, and our world.

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