Fitness triumphs over medicine

by Oliver Kitchingman | Thursday, May 12, 2011

The following post was written by John Miller from www.fitandhealthyonline.com, a former PhysEd teacher who is now a health, fitness and wellbeing seminar presenter, program developer and author.

If you ever you wanted evidence that the best bet for the Commonwealth Department of Health was fitness not medicine, all you had to do was watch the final of The Biggest Loser.

In the race to improve the health of Australians, the Commonwealth Government continues to spend infinitely more on medical research, surgeries and hospitals that it does on fitness. However, you can put down the glasses, the race is over; it’s fitness first, daylight second, medicine a distant third

I’m a big fan of The Biggest Loser. Where else can you see people go from fat to thin, unhealthy to fit, sad to happy, all in a few short months? Certainly not in many surgeries and pharmacies.

The Government’s timid response to the epidemic of personally generated body system dysfunctions – metabolic, musculoskeletal and psychological – is to set up a toothless Preventive Health Agency with the bulk of the ‘ill health’ budget still ending up in the pockets of an increasingly ineffective medical industry: preventive health industry $145m, medical industry $60B.

The Department of Health has put most of its health eggs into one basket. Some of those eggs are rotten.

So, here’s a blueprint for a revitalisation of health, fitness and wellbeing in this country.

1. First, we need to make a distinction between what’s medical and what’s not. Too many people are going to doctors for things doctors can’t fix and for things that would best be attended to by someone else, like a nurse, naturopath, counsellor or fitness professional.
2. Then we need to make the distinction between what’s a disease and what’s a personally-generated body system dysfunction. If you’ve got a disease, a medical complaint or your dysfunction is too far gone, you need medical treatment. Otherwise start working on yourself.
3. Anyone with any of the personally-generated dysfunctions who is prepared to donate four weeks of their time to work on their fitness should get free access to group fitness instruction at a fitness centre close to their home. Getting fit becomes their full time job. No pussy footing, no mollycoddling, just eight hours a day devoted to restoring poor function to good with a balanced health, fitness, wellbeing and nutrition program.
4. For the health of Australians to improve, the Department of Health has to elevate the fitness industry into the front line of primary health care. The bulk of the ill health problems in this country are fitness problems and you can’t solve a fitness problem with a medical solution.
5. Split the current Commonwealth Department of Health into two to form a Department of Health, Fitness and Wellbeing on one side of the ledger and a Department of Medicine on the other, with half the money that is currently going to GPs and drug companies being directed to the new Department of Health, Fitness and Wellbeing.
6. The Commonwealth Government has to publicly acknowledge that in a toxic, sedentary society that’s undernourished, overfed and stressed to the max, the medical model is the wrong model for improving health, fitness and wellbeing. Over the last 35 years it’s had a good trial and come up short. The health of Australians is getting worse.
7. The Commonwealth Government has to recognise the effect that the practice of ‘junk medicine’ is having on health standards (‘junk medicine’ being the prescription of medications which mask symptoms rather than treatments which restore poor function to good).

What do you think – is it time to completely reassess Australia’s approach to health and tip the scales in favour of prevention through fitness rather than ineffective ‘cure’ through medication?

 

Tweet

Posted by: Jessica Kazdera | 12-May-2011 04:17 PM |

Where is the 'Like' button? ;) About time we started waking up to ourselves. Drugs and medication that mask the problems are not a cure or a solution to majority of medical problems out there. (That's not to say that there aren't serious illness out there.)
We live in a very toxic world and the answer is to live clean, chemical and toxin free and keep a good clean diet, be happy and most importantly stay active - that is the key to longevity. Prevention and Education is the key. Thank you Oliver for putting the
word out there.

Posted by: Charmaine Miller | 12-May-2011 05:19 PM |

Great Article - we need to start getting serious about prevention !

Posted by: Sandy Remiens | 16-May-2011 09:53 PM |

Totally agree. I am currently working in Bangkok and had some clients (a couple) that I sent to a doctor here as I suspected thyroid/blood sugar issues may have been affecting their health. Training with me three times a week they both had the best adherance
to their exercise and nutrition of any client I had. They had both increased their fitness and strength, improved their posture and functionality heaps but lost no fat. They returned from the doctor here in Bangkok with so many unlabled drugs and hormones
I was horrified. Consequently I wrote a letter to my own doctor in Australia (who is totally in support of restoring peoples proper functionality as part of their overall health) to see them as they were due to fly into Australia the next week for 2 weeks.
He also was not impressed at the amount of drugs and hormones they had been given and we are working on getting things back inbalance again and getting them correctly diagnosed. As susected, some minor thyroid issues - but none required the amount or quanity
of unknown drugs issued to them by the doctor here. I have my issues with the Biggest Loser as do most Health professionals but yes agree that it can be a source of inspiration to those who have been through the medical rollers (esp those who believe doctors
are right because they are doctors!). Our bodies are designed to move and without having proper functionality, health and fitness, there are few drugs that will have much positive effect at all. You can achieve so much with the proper training and mindset
and after almost 20 years I still get a buzz from seeing peoples posture and functionality improve, helping them achieve things they were told they would never do and seeing them gain their confidence back. Life is for living - not surviving. It would be great
to see the Health System work better together between doctors/physios/trainers etc. In New Zealand the Govt tried what they called a "Green Prescription" where a doctor could prescribe a patient exercise and the cost would be partly covered by the govt - and
Im not sure why it fell down - I suspect the doctors did not support it (so did not believe it to be of help? thats scary) as I even called my mothers doctor and asked him to give a "Green Prescription" to my mother, who is of the generation that believes
anything a doctor says. He never did. I was gutted. But with this particular issue I needed (well my mother needed) the support of the medical profession to help her - and it just wasnt there.

Posted by: John Miller | 22-May-2011 02:01 PM |

Charmaine, Not 'prevention', 'creation'! The further we can get from the concept of 'preventive health' the better. It's medical speak. It's 'fitness' we need to keep trumpeting, first, second and third, back front and sides. Sandy, I'm not sure what happened
to the Green Prescription either but I think it was a bold idea coming from the Hillary Commission the NZ Government's Recreation Department (I think). But why would you encourage doctors to prescribe exercise. They don't have a clue how to measure it or prescribe
it. They've been blind-sided by Big Pharma. Has a doctor ever taken you out the back and measured your aerobic fitness? Have they ever asked to see how many situps and pressups you can do? The Green Prescription should have been a Department of Health initiative
to open up primary health care to the fitness industry and get people to go to a fitness practitioner for advice. Let's leave medicine to the medical industry and fitness to the fitness industry. And when a high proportion of the visits to doctors are fitness
related, fitness centres should be full to overflowing and doctors sitting around twiddling their thumbs and playing golf on Wednesdays. Regards John Miller http://www.fitandhealthyonline.com

Posted by: Brendan Rigby | 26-May-2011 01:10 PM |

Great Article Oliver! Health, Fitness, Exercise and 'creation' are not the priorities of our medical industry - largley influenced by drug companies and lobby groups in Canberra. How often as a
Gym owner do we see direct referrals from a GP for their patients to start an exercise and lifestyle fitness program? Not often yet we live in a society with an epidemic of 'personally generated
body system dysfunctions'. Brendan Rigby
Inspire Fitness for Wellbeing

Posted by: Dave Robertson | 10-Jun-2011 07:58 PM |

Spot on! Great article John and thanks Oliver for sharing here. As an allied health professional (physio) I can tell you the sooner these 7 points become a part of the National Strategy for improving health, the better off this country will be. I agree,
the medical model which has been clung to for many years, clearly comes up short. I hope that in the next 5-10 years (hopefully sooner) after the exisiting medical model is run into the ground by ever-increasing referrals for people with "personally-generated
body system dysfunction", the people who make the decisions will realise a better option centreed around fitness is required.

Posted by: Jeremiah Muscofit | 13-Jul-2011 01:38 PM |

I really like your blog. Thumbs up! I'm into
fitness . It is very important to prioritize prevention.

Posted by: azhou987321 | 18-Jul-2011 11:57 AM |

No feedback was left by this visitor.

Posted by: Adelaide Gym | 10-Aug-2011 02:47 PM |

Great post i liked it thanks for telling us about the fitness

Posted by: Nat | 03-Sep-2011 10:18 AM |

Best common sense article Ive read for a very long time. Why is it the govt of the day cant or wont see it? I worked in GP land for 25 years, no "health" there. Now about to embark on journey into PT land. I know it will be what Ive been looking for. Great
work by the way!