Health - a precious guft, a human right (WHO 2006), much discussed, omnipresent.
In german the term health (Gesundheit) etymologically derives from the old german word gisunt - to be whole, being healthy, to be complete (Kluge 1960, p.244). Such a linguistic commonality of health and wholeness is also found in the english language (Riesch 2013).
A.T. Still, founder of osteopathy, elaborates this very commonality as a central element of the osteopathic thinking and action. He describes
the human being as a trinity consisting of body, mind, and spirit, which in a state of health act harmoniously, i.e. as a unit or wholeness, with each other. To be healthy is the goal of every living cell. Based on this idea Still postulates the idea of the intrinsic health power of every living being. If one cell, or many cells, are no longer able to express this power, the well-being on a health-disease continuum shifts toward the disease pole. Supporting the body's quest for health and the harmonious interaction of its parts is the task of osteopathy - it is in this context that the much quoted words "To find health should be the object of the doctor 1. Any one can find disease." (Still 1971; Still 1908 a; Still 1908 b).
The idea to place health in the center of therapeutic-medical thinking can also be found in other approaches. One of these is Antonovsky's concept of salutogenesis, which has become increasingly important since the 1990s.
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Seven years ago I embarked on a philosophical-practical research journey into the great concepts of osteopathy "health" and "wholeness". One step on this journey was the written formulation of my thoughts in my master's thesis "Themes in Osteopathic Initial Anamneses - A Consideration of the Theory of Wholeness", another is lecturing at the Osteopathie Schule Deutschland in Berlin on the topics of salutogenesis and wholeness. I take many more steps in the every day contact with my patients.
1 In the USA, the birthplace of Still and osteopathy, osteopaths, like physicians working in conventional medicine, bear the name doctor.
Literature:
Kluge, F. (1989). Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache. 22. Aufl. Berlin und New York: Walter de Gruyter.
Riesch, A. J. (2013). Gesundheit durch Ganzheit - ein osteopathisch-salutogenetischer Ansatz. Osteopathische Medizin 14 (2), 22-23.
Still, A. T. (1908 a). Adress of Welcome. The Journal of Osteopathy 15 (9), 526.
Still, A. T. (1908 b). Autobiography of Andrew T. Still. Kirksville: A. T. Still.
Still, A. T. (1971). The Philosophy of Osteopathy. 4. Aufl. Michigan: EDWARDS BROTHERS.
World Health Organization WHO (2006). Constitution of the World Health Organization. 45. Aufl.
Photography:
Rebecca Thoma