Being a healthcare practitioner myself this is something that really rings home for me.

It is hard for me to see when people who are supposed to be helping you get your health back are not healthy themselves. It makes me proud to see that my fellow co-workers at Robbins Rehabilitation are concerned about their own health as well as the health of their families and patients.

Now this does not mean that I myself nor are my co-workers perfect when it comes to health. However, I see that there are still a few common threads that should be practiced by all healthcare practitioners and these are no different than anybody else who wishes to be healthy:

Drink enough good clean water
Eat high quality real food
Get enough movement
Be sure to breathe properly
Sleep well and enough
Do your best to balance all stressors
No stinkin’ thinkin’
Do not ask of your patients that you would not ask of yourself

Now I say all of these things, not to brag about what I do for myself, but to show you what you can find in somebody who can help you prevent a disease rather than find a cure (see modern version of Hippocratic Oath).

This does not mean that you should simply dismiss a practitioner because they do not meet all of the above criteria, but should simply seek out the best you can. To give some examples. A few months back my son Cooper was flailing his arms in the middle of the night when I went to get him and his nail caught me in the eye. Since I am not an optometrist and had not been to one in some time it was time to go. I spoke with my wife Julie who loves her doctor of optometry and so I go. I was very pleasantly surprised. Everything was fine and it healed in a few weeks, but the best part was when I asked him “how can I continue to best take care of my eyes” he came back with “just like you take care of the rest of the body.” He went on to explain the importance of diet, keeping inflammation down, doing proper exercise and even getting adequate sleep. Needless to say I was sold.

What If You are Still Searching for the Right Practitioner?

Ask around. This is how I am finding the right general practitioner for myself. I am asking those that I know are also healthy and seeing their opinions of doctors in the area. One good friend of mine whom I work with suggested somebody to me. She told me that he is a great blend of somebody who is up on the latest literature (important for acute care) as well as is very into getting the body to be healthy (important for the long term) and he even takes care of himself. All three factors are very important to me. Now it is time for you to go out, ask around and interview your practitioners if need be. It is not a bad thing to have 2-20 people looking after your health, but make sure they are all on the same page and hopefully all take their own health very seriously as well as yours.

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Have a Great Day!

Nick Horowski