We know today that washing hands is good practice. They even have a proscribed method of how to properly scrub up before a procedure. Sadly this wasn't always the case. In the early days of 'modern' medicine pelvic inflammatory disease was at near epidemic proportions among women having children in hospitals. It was so severe that the mortality rate was extremely high. Many mothers lost their lives in child birth due to this man made malady. Oddly the women who were having kids at home with a midwife were not having this problem.
Midwives were in the practice of washing their hands before assisting their maternal patrons. Believe it or not the activity was scoffed at as a quaint but useless activity by the medical elite. Yet it was the patients of the 'modern' doctor who were suffering the ravages of pelvic inflammatory disease.
Around 1900 a doctor by the name of Seimelweisse observed a midwife in action and took note of the habit of washing there hands often during the birthing process. He also noted that they would take the time to wash their hands with soap and water between each patient if they were dealing with more than one birth at any given moment. It was then he asked how many of their patients suffer from pelvis inflammation. When they answered him with a low number of incidents he was astonished.
Taking this new insight to heart he put it into practice and discovered that his rate of pelvic inflammatory disease decreased by 70%. when he used soap and warm water the number increased to 80%. He wrote a book and had it published. Instead of being lauded for his insightful wisdom and magnificent achievement he was systematically run out of his social clubs and ridiculed by his peers, for challenging the accepted wisdom of the times.
Dr. Seimelweiss died broke and insane for daring to challenge the mutton chopped elitists belief that they were perfect in their thinking.
Hmmm.. Does this sound familiar?
How dare those awful uneducated quack chiropractors say we are killing anyone??? But why are out malpractice premiums so high and why do we have to hide the mortality rates of our hospitals from public view?
Quiet..we aren't concerned with facts...just pretenses. JAMA.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Hippocrates the father of Wellness pt II
The idea of preventing disease certainly makes sense. Hippocrates had the right idea and intuitively knew that by maintaining the nervous system function at its highest levels patients would be well more often than they were ill. That is not to say that illness would be staved off 100% of the time. It is necessary for our bodies to be stressed in order to keep our bodies agile and ready for the challenges we are put to from time to time.
Wellness has been an idea that has come and gone throughout the centuries. In ancient Rome cleanliness was encouraged while sewage systems kept human waste from accumulating in the streets preventing diseases of filth from ravaging the population. Neither did the Romans dump their sewage into rivers or active water ways because they knew that the health of their waterways was vital to the strength of their empire.
Not only did they divert their waste away from water ways they created evaporation ponds that would both store and disinfect the waste which they would then use as fertilizer on their vineyards. Recycling?
Even Garbage collection was scheduled and littering fined. If you didn't have the money to pay the fine you were flogged. As a result Rome had very clean streets. They even had an agency that saw to it that nobody sold tainted food to the people of Rome. So how is it that such contemporary common sense ideas died out?
The Roman empire did endure for well over a thousand years so they obviously did something right. But when the empire crumbled social hygiene fell to the wayside as hordes of barbarians overran the cities and left behind them wreckage and ruin. What rose out of the ashes was a new order where religion dictated policy declaring anything of Roman origin evil and where disease was Gods punishment for sin and knowledge discouraged. Anyone who dared question authority was accused of witchcraft or devil worship then burned at the stake. Galeleo dared to question the Churches position that the earth was the center of our universe and that the earth rotated around the sun, not the other way around. For this he was threatened with death via burning at the stake. We know today that he was correct. Sadly we lost nearly a thousand years of potential geniuses due to this atmosphere of fear and oppression.
What did rise from this time of ignorance was demonology or the study of demon possession. It was theorized that illness was caused by the possession by an evil demon and the only way to 'cure' the person of this illness was to bleed them and purify their body. As the centuries marched on the 'demon' morphed into the germ hence the germ theory we know today. Yet, the treatment for this neo-demon possession didn't change. Blood letting was the staple of the medical field for nearly a thousand years. This was the earliest form if 'sick care' or treating of the body 'after' the damage was done. Sadly most of the diseases that ravaged Europe could have been prevented had they simply used the roman system of waste disposal and sewage systems.
Historical note: Did you know that the Palace of King Louis and Marie Antoinette did not even have a single toilet? During the many balls and parties that were held there and the dinner and wine that was consumed holding your bodily functions in check wasn't going to happen. Clearly the garden would have come into some use but the guests would usually use the stair wells for 'both' duties of bodily function. Ewwwww!! To quote my daughter.
Is it any wonder that Europe suffered through so many different epidemics and plagues? It was only after the first 'Crapper' was in regular use that the diseases that were so prominent in our society began to ease up. "Crapper" was a brand name for a toilet, hence the slang term we use today. After nearly 2000 years we began to use the same technology that the Romans did to keep their streets clean.
I often wonder how our society would have developed had we incorporated cleanliness into our society rather than forsaken it out of religious dogma. Would the famines and epidemics that plagued ancient Europe have ever happened? Would the Black Plague have ever been? How in the name of sanity and logic did we survive the dark ages? What did we lose as a result? We can only speculate the answers to these questions, learn and move forward as we each learn how to obtain wellness and live in the wellness life style and hope we never lose the knowledge we have gained for the sake of dogmatic ideology. One can only hope because we might not be so lucky as to survive such stupidity again.
Wellness has been an idea that has come and gone throughout the centuries. In ancient Rome cleanliness was encouraged while sewage systems kept human waste from accumulating in the streets preventing diseases of filth from ravaging the population. Neither did the Romans dump their sewage into rivers or active water ways because they knew that the health of their waterways was vital to the strength of their empire.
Not only did they divert their waste away from water ways they created evaporation ponds that would both store and disinfect the waste which they would then use as fertilizer on their vineyards. Recycling?
Even Garbage collection was scheduled and littering fined. If you didn't have the money to pay the fine you were flogged. As a result Rome had very clean streets. They even had an agency that saw to it that nobody sold tainted food to the people of Rome. So how is it that such contemporary common sense ideas died out?
The Roman empire did endure for well over a thousand years so they obviously did something right. But when the empire crumbled social hygiene fell to the wayside as hordes of barbarians overran the cities and left behind them wreckage and ruin. What rose out of the ashes was a new order where religion dictated policy declaring anything of Roman origin evil and where disease was Gods punishment for sin and knowledge discouraged. Anyone who dared question authority was accused of witchcraft or devil worship then burned at the stake. Galeleo dared to question the Churches position that the earth was the center of our universe and that the earth rotated around the sun, not the other way around. For this he was threatened with death via burning at the stake. We know today that he was correct. Sadly we lost nearly a thousand years of potential geniuses due to this atmosphere of fear and oppression.
What did rise from this time of ignorance was demonology or the study of demon possession. It was theorized that illness was caused by the possession by an evil demon and the only way to 'cure' the person of this illness was to bleed them and purify their body. As the centuries marched on the 'demon' morphed into the germ hence the germ theory we know today. Yet, the treatment for this neo-demon possession didn't change. Blood letting was the staple of the medical field for nearly a thousand years. This was the earliest form if 'sick care' or treating of the body 'after' the damage was done. Sadly most of the diseases that ravaged Europe could have been prevented had they simply used the roman system of waste disposal and sewage systems.
Historical note: Did you know that the Palace of King Louis and Marie Antoinette did not even have a single toilet? During the many balls and parties that were held there and the dinner and wine that was consumed holding your bodily functions in check wasn't going to happen. Clearly the garden would have come into some use but the guests would usually use the stair wells for 'both' duties of bodily function. Ewwwww!! To quote my daughter.
Is it any wonder that Europe suffered through so many different epidemics and plagues? It was only after the first 'Crapper' was in regular use that the diseases that were so prominent in our society began to ease up. "Crapper" was a brand name for a toilet, hence the slang term we use today. After nearly 2000 years we began to use the same technology that the Romans did to keep their streets clean.
I often wonder how our society would have developed had we incorporated cleanliness into our society rather than forsaken it out of religious dogma. Would the famines and epidemics that plagued ancient Europe have ever happened? Would the Black Plague have ever been? How in the name of sanity and logic did we survive the dark ages? What did we lose as a result? We can only speculate the answers to these questions, learn and move forward as we each learn how to obtain wellness and live in the wellness life style and hope we never lose the knowledge we have gained for the sake of dogmatic ideology. One can only hope because we might not be so lucky as to survive such stupidity again.
Friday, February 10, 2012
Hippocrates the Father of Wellness part 1
Hippocrates, the father of all doctors, was a 'wellness' advocate. He has been quoted "Look well to the spine for the cause of disease". Wow, sounds like something one of those crazy queeropractors would say. Yet, here we have the father of modern health care looking to the spine as the root cause of organic disease..interesting. Organic disease? Organic disease means non-pathologic disease or a disease state that is not precipitated by an infection or toxic influence from outside the body. In short it means that your organs are not working as efficiently as they could be. Examples of organic disease include asthma, idiopathic kidney failure, headaches, migraines, weakened immune system, autoimmune disorders (the body doesn't recognize itself as friend and sends the immune system in to attack it) the list can be virtually endless. In other words organic disease has no pathogen that 'causes' it.
We have to remember that Hippocrates, genius though he was, didn't have references to draw from or corporate interests to 'direct' him. He observed the fact that the brain was connected to the body through a series of fibers which were housed inside the spine. He reasoned that areas of spinal lesion, what chiropractors call a subluxation, caused interference to the transmission of nerve impulses. A spinal lesion, as described by Hippocrates, was an area where two or more vertebrae were locked or were partially dislocated placing pressure on the nerve disrupting nerve impulse flow thereby causing the organs attached to those nerves to function abnormally, the beginnings of organic disease.
So 2500 years ago the idea behind chiropractic was studied. Through observation of his patients reactions to the manipulations, as he termed his realigning of the spine, he theorized that by keeping the spine mobile and aligned nerve function would cause the body to heal itself more efficiently. In the absence of normal nerve flow disease would follow. The idea was to prevent disease states from occurring by keeping the spine aligned i.e. maintenance care. It was this very idea of maintenance care that earned chiropractors the scorn and admonition of mainstream health care throughout the 20th century. But as I mentioned earlier, it was one of the first ideas to be considered by Hippocrates 2500 years ago.
We have to remember that Hippocrates, genius though he was, didn't have references to draw from or corporate interests to 'direct' him. He observed the fact that the brain was connected to the body through a series of fibers which were housed inside the spine. He reasoned that areas of spinal lesion, what chiropractors call a subluxation, caused interference to the transmission of nerve impulses. A spinal lesion, as described by Hippocrates, was an area where two or more vertebrae were locked or were partially dislocated placing pressure on the nerve disrupting nerve impulse flow thereby causing the organs attached to those nerves to function abnormally, the beginnings of organic disease.
So 2500 years ago the idea behind chiropractic was studied. Through observation of his patients reactions to the manipulations, as he termed his realigning of the spine, he theorized that by keeping the spine mobile and aligned nerve function would cause the body to heal itself more efficiently. In the absence of normal nerve flow disease would follow. The idea was to prevent disease states from occurring by keeping the spine aligned i.e. maintenance care. It was this very idea of maintenance care that earned chiropractors the scorn and admonition of mainstream health care throughout the 20th century. But as I mentioned earlier, it was one of the first ideas to be considered by Hippocrates 2500 years ago.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Victory Gardens.
During both WWI and WWII our nation sent ships, tanks, guns, men and countless tons of material to war. On the home front people were asked to sacrifice creature comforts, buy war bonds and grow victory gardens.
Every where you looked gardens popped up on street corners, back yards and roof tops to help feed the masses back home. People were growing their own food and eating what they grew. During both WWI and WWII heart disease decreased significantly. Why? Victory Gardens. The American people were eating more vegetables, less meat and fewer breads made with processed white flower.
Because our boys deserved the best American Industrialization could offer all the food Americans were in the habit of eating and causing heart disease was sent over seas, to war. Since life expectancy of a front line serviceman was measured in weeks and months the long term effects of eating processed foods wasn't considered. They were sent meat, flour, canned goods, salt, whiskey, beer, coca-cola, candy bars, chewing tobacco, pipe tobacco, cigarettes and a host of other goods that were no longer readily available on the shelves back home. As a result everyone back home was forced to eat healthier. Of course with the end of each war everything went back to normal and heart disease rose to its pre-war rate as we once again began consuming processed foods and victory gardens faded away.
Should we begin thinking about growing our own food again? Should we start shopping at a farmers market for our vegetables promoting local agriculture and local economies? Victory gardens got people outside in the sun, gave them exercise and probably relaxed them a bit to. The activity of tending their garden likely took their mind off their loved ones who were in harms way creating a peace of mind during a very stressful time.
Perhaps its time we grow our own victory gardens and create our own personal victories in wellness.
Every where you looked gardens popped up on street corners, back yards and roof tops to help feed the masses back home. People were growing their own food and eating what they grew. During both WWI and WWII heart disease decreased significantly. Why? Victory Gardens. The American people were eating more vegetables, less meat and fewer breads made with processed white flower.
Because our boys deserved the best American Industrialization could offer all the food Americans were in the habit of eating and causing heart disease was sent over seas, to war. Since life expectancy of a front line serviceman was measured in weeks and months the long term effects of eating processed foods wasn't considered. They were sent meat, flour, canned goods, salt, whiskey, beer, coca-cola, candy bars, chewing tobacco, pipe tobacco, cigarettes and a host of other goods that were no longer readily available on the shelves back home. As a result everyone back home was forced to eat healthier. Of course with the end of each war everything went back to normal and heart disease rose to its pre-war rate as we once again began consuming processed foods and victory gardens faded away.
Should we begin thinking about growing our own food again? Should we start shopping at a farmers market for our vegetables promoting local agriculture and local economies? Victory gardens got people outside in the sun, gave them exercise and probably relaxed them a bit to. The activity of tending their garden likely took their mind off their loved ones who were in harms way creating a peace of mind during a very stressful time.
Perhaps its time we grow our own victory gardens and create our own personal victories in wellness.
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