What is Salutogenesis?
According to Merriam-webster dictionary, salutogenesis is defined as “an approach to human health that examines the factors contributing to the promotion and maintenance of physical and mental well-being rather than disease with particular emphasis on the coping mechanisms of individuals which help preserve health despite stressful conditions”.... Wow sounds a lot like chiropractic care right??? This approach is relatively new and was first heard of in 1979.
What is pathogenesis?
The typical healthcare setting focuses on a pathogenic approach where the focus is on disease and how to treat disease. In our office we focus on a salutogenic approach where we want to maintain health and ensure that it doesn’t lead to dis-ease within the body. We work on health promotion and reaching full potential versus focusing on disease and symptoms. For example, when we were in the heart of COVID how many people had a household where one person got sick, but the others didn’t and it made no sense? A pathogenic approach would say “Well what germs did that person catch that the other didn’t? How often did they each wash their hands?” A salutogenic approach would say “What healthy habits did they each perform? Who was taking their supplements? How much sleep was each getting per night? How was diet and water intake?”. As you can see, one focuses on what they did wrong, and one focuses on what they did right to maintain their health, the same way we do office.
Chiropractic Care
How often do you hear Dr. Zoelle say “How has your water intake been? How has your diet been? Are you getting enough exercise in?”, these are all examples of a salutogenic approach. When it comes to chiropractic, you will often hear Dr. Zoelle say “I am not healing you”. This is because, she is ensuring the spinal misalighnments are fixed so that the brain and body connection can be restored. When this happens, communication within the body is optimal, and the body is able to self-heal exactly the way it was designed. When there is interference within the body due to misalignments, our brain-body connection is weakened which can weaken immune function, increase pain, decrease sleep, and cause a lot of unwanted symptoms you may be feeling. We want to improve adaptability of your body.
Zoelle Reinke
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