The Whole Person approach

By Dr Murray Grossan

Because we focus on the whole person, every effort is made to treat with remedies rather than drugs. For example, for many sinus problems, we restore nasal cilia function rather than start with heavy antibiotics. When the nasal/sinus cilia move normally, they move bacteria out of the nose and sinuses.

This means lots of green tea, chicken soup and simple sinus irrigation that pulses in harmony to good cilia movement.

It is always important to understand the whole person. Even a sore finger can cause extreme stress, with the pain amplified. Part of our whole person approach is to try to reduce any stress factors that might be affecting the symptoms. This is done by explaining to the patient with picture and diagrams his pain in the left cheek. Why he feels the pain in his tooth. Why he needs to avoid heavy chewing. Sometimes we might show him/her how to use special breathing methods that work to lower stress chemistry. There is no question that the more the patient understands their condition and has seen the pictures, the less the stress factor. Patients always feel better when they understand fully why they have their symptoms.

The Whole Person approach is best illustrated in the treatment of tinnitus – ringing in the ear. No single pill has been found to cure this problem; yet patients do profit significantly when the various components of the tinnitus circuits are attended to. Sometimes, this can be as simple at attending to a patient’s jaw joint! Miss A. R. complained of noise in the right ear. When she chewed, the examiner could hear the same noise! Correcting that joint was the cure.

Repeatedly we see the advantage of the whole person approach. Whether it was the pain in the ear that turned out to come from the jaw joint, or pain above the eye that turned out to be referred from the sore neck muscle, or the headaches caused because she needed reading glasses; the Whole Person approach is good medicine.