Functional Trainer: Integrative Health Care Coming to the North East

Jun 20 2009 by Jack Walton

We live in exciting times for health care.  Our understanding of illness and disease and how to achieve enhanced  health and well-being  is ever growing.   As are the number of options available to you, from the NHS to Private to which therapy and which therapist?  Understandably this can be confusing and sometimes it may feel like we are treating symptoms as opposed to getting to the cause, or being to reactive when we should be being proactive.  Does Integrative Health Care hold the key?

What is Integrative Health?

To integrate means to unify separate things.  In health care this serves to bring together methods that will effectively enhance health.  It may include combining allopathic (conventional methods) and complementary therapies.  As with most things in life, we are aiming to get the best of both worlds and if there is a system that is successful in this it will surely revolutionise health care as we know it

Problem solving

Such an integrative system will provide a comprehensive service with many advantages:

–         Application of allopathic and complementary treatment when appropriate.

–         Working with the right practitioner for your situation.

–         No more chasing pain or symptoms from one place to the next.

–         Getting to the root cause of the problem.

–         Taking a holistic approach to health and performance.

–         Taking reasonable responsibility for our own health.

–         Reducing pain and ill health by being proactive to our needs.

Northern Integrative Health Practice (NIHP)

Here in the North East we will be lucky enough to see this become a reality when the NIHP (Sacriston, Durham) opens its doors on July 18^th.  Clinical Director Paula Esson describes the ethos as “bringing together a dedicated staff team and a location where all the ways of looking after you in terms of health can be provided under one roof: from physiotherapy to psychotherapy, lifestyle to rehabilitation, sports performance to cutting edge scientific research”.

In 2008 I was lucky enough to meet Paula and hear of her vision for health care.  I was keen to find out where she saw exercise and nutrition within the integrative model and since then we have been busy developing exercise and rehabilitation facilities, to be ready for July.   In the meantime, to find out more about the NIHP visit www.healthnorth.co.uk .