"We can't all live in nature, but it doesn't mean we can't live naturally..."

Lately we have all either read, watched or discussed our climate and global warming. Whether it is the Amazon in flames, rising sea levels or Greta Thunberg's speech. You are now probably thinking why is an Osteopath talking about this?

The founder of osteopathy, Andrew Taylor Still described "man as a triune: mind, body and soul". To me, this means when a client presents with back pain, neck pain, or other musculoskeletal pain it is partly a presentation of something from the 'environment' causing stress to them. Paul Chek mentions that illness or injury is usually found when there is upset to the four Doctors; Dr Happiness, Dr Diet, Dr Movement and Dr Quiet. A spine doesn't come to see me, a person does and the spine is attached to that person. Most illnesses are musculoskeletal in origin with approximately 30-50% related to stress (Carter et al., 2013). As an Osteopath, it's my job to identify the stress, because the client's pain is is usually a somatisation of that. People put their problems into their body's.

Chronic pain, is pain which occurs for periods longer than three months (Treede et al., 2019), it's a challenging condition with a significant global burden of disease. In fact it is estimated 28million people in the UK are affected by chronic pain. A figure which is likely to grow in parallel to an ageing population. Chronic pain is a challenging condition influenced by a whole heap of factors and is poorly managed by a biomedical model which views disease solely as a function of altered physiology, as the condition is defined by the persistence of symptoms and not by damage or injury (Farre & Rapley, 2017).

Osteopathy and Holism:

Osteopathy can be defined as a mode of healthcare which incorporates the diagnosis, treatment and advice using a hands-on and holistic approach (Fryer, 2017). Osteopathic holism can be presented through the 3 principles: structure-function relationship at all scales in the body, the unity of the body as a complete organism, and its innate capacity for self-healing (Grace, Orrock, Vaughan, Blaich & Coutts, 2016).

Osteopathy and Nature:

Nature is very powerful. Think, the majority of the painkillers, drugs and modern-day medicine originated from a natural source. Did you know willow bark is a natural aspirin? Tumeric is an anti-inflammatory? And spending 15-20minutes sitting in a wooded area (termed forest bathing), causes a cascade of positive health responses?

Natural therapy (which forest bathing falls under...excuse the pun) can be defined as a group of practice focused on biopsychosocial health benefits received via multi-sensory exposure or engagement with natural stimuli (Song, Ikei & Miyazaki, 2016). It's been theorised that through urbanisation/ modernisation and disconnecting from nature, humans have produced an elevated 'stress state' (Hansen, Jones & Trochini, 2017). This state would predispose us to sub-optimal psychological and physiological functioning.

Nature & you!

Over the past 300,000 years, we homo sapiens have spent the vast majority of our time outside as hunters and gatherers, living in caves, dens & temporary structures, and would walk to wherever the best food and resources were located. It wasn’t until relatively recently, approximately the past 10,000 years, that agriculture was born. This has enabled us to live in more permanent homes and spend less time outdoors. In fact we now spend approximately 90 percent of our time indoors, almost 70% of which is at home. 

Spending 90 percent of our time indoors means that we’re not spending a lot of time outdoors, being in nature. Due to our human history it is natural for us to seek constant interaction with natural surroundings and further develop an innate affection for living things (biophilia). 

You are now thinking how can I be more connected with nature, but as Tony Riddle says "we can't all live in nature, but it doesn't mean we can't live naturally". Here are a few tips to help you live more naturally in your home!

1. Bring more plants into your room
2. Add an air purifier (pollutants are 2.5x stronger in your house than they are outside)
3. Invest in lighting which mirrors natural daylight