References
1 Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) 2006. Chronic diseases and associated risk factors in Australia, 2006.
2 World Health Organisation (WHO) (2005) Preventing chronic disease: a vital investment: WHO global report. Geneva
3 National Health Priority Action Council (NHPAC) 2006. National Chronic Disease Strategy, Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing, Canberra.
4 Stollznow Research for Pfiser Australia: Chronic Pain. April 2010.
5 World Health Organisation (WHO) (2005) Preventing chronic disease: a vital investment: WHO global report. Geneva
6 Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Health Expenditure Australia Report 2009-2010
Chapter 3:
RESULTS FOR LIFE
Abandon the ‘Quick Fix’ Mentality
Of our limited resources, time is the most precious. It’s unredeemable and we can’t afford to waste it. Consequently, the symptoms of ‘urgency’ sickness are breaking out everywhere as a 21st century pandemic. Everyone feels time-poor and can recall more than one deadline overdue. Queue-rage and growing impatience with red traffic lights are an embarrassing indictment on society. We are the first generation to get frustrated with the microwave. It seems normal now to be texting, making lunch for the day, watching the morning news, all while you are eating breakfast in the rush before work. Multi-tasking is no longer the envied skill of the superior, but the survival tactic of the many. We want it quicker, bigger, better…and we want it now!
The problem is, you can’t rush health. There are no shortcuts when it comes to wellness. As much as I’d sell more books promising a “quick fix”, the only short you’ll experience is a short coming to the long-term benefit. Forget the “miracle cures” and fab-diets, 5-minute abdominal workouts and those expensive weight-loss products that make outrageous promises. Not to be intentionally provocative or contrarian, but our health and wellness is not something to be gambled with parlour tricks. At best, even if some of these gimmicks and celebrity-endorsed products provide short-term results (although many of them don’t even deliver on this), I can assure you that after years of observation and even some experimentation with many of these approaches, they will leave you disappointed in the end. And without question, you will not be healthier.
If your goal is to enjoy a lifetime of good health and vitality, then you must make a commitment to invest in yourself with longevity. This doesn’t have to take brow-beating hard work or years to enjoy, but it does rely on consistency. With continued efforts it becomes a way of life with progressive ease. Your efforts compound over time, and you build strong momentum that propels your continued success. Riding the steady current of wellness as this book outlines, and making a series of good decisions along the journey, will ensure you enjoy the sustainable rewards of a healthier life far more reliably than that spruiked during late night tele-commercials.
Before I Even Had a Name For It Intuitively, I have always believed ‘quick fixes’ in health were a dangerous oxymoron. After studying the mechanics and physiology of the human body, I further resolved that true healing and optimal health could not be offered through some sleek “drive-through” medical service.
“If your goal is to enjoy a lifetime of good health and vitality, make a commitment to invest in yourself with longevity.”
As a young graduate, I embarked on my profession with the intention to provide clients with optimal life-long physical health through innovative techniques that clients found easy to self-manage, were specifically tailored to their individuality, holistic in nature and affordable for the long-term. Today we call it our Results4Life philosophy, but back then it was just the right thing to do.
My launch of this new thinking in health was humble. I founded our first practice in the single carport of our half-renovated home, which I walled up with thin cladding with the help of a close friend. I bought an inexpensive massage bed and a second-hand ultrasound machine to equip the room. I could only afford a modest $372 for necessary therapeutic creams and gels in my otherwise bare room. I wanted to offer superior healthcare to local clients who I believed were in many ways being dis-serviced by a traditional and ineffective approach. The seed for the Back In Motion Health Group was planted.
My intention was to introduce people to true health and not just assist them in recovering from their immediate injury or pain. My picture for them was much bigger than even the clients captured in these early stages. Everything I did was based on strong scientific evidence and medical research, combined with an intuition that made sense to my clients. I was applying mainstream medical knowledge and the science of human movement in a creative way, despite the cautions of some colleagues that my approaches were unlikely to succeed. I wasn’t deterred from pursuing the promise of a more progressive healthcare solution. Clients needed better clinical outcomes with lasting results. It was time for a new way of thinking.
I committed to treating family, friends and their friends with a determination to achieve leveraged health and wellness. In turn, excited clients passed the word along that they were getting new and better results with what seemed only simple variations to their lifestyle decisions. Consequently I gained more clients. Within five months, I was receiving optimistic referrals from prestigious orthopaedic surgeons and highly respected local medical doctors who were astounded by my clients’ results.
Whatever we were yet to call it, it was working! People were feeling more empowered from day one and physically better within weeks. They were adopting my simple strategies for wellness, and were exceeding physical achievements they had previously given up on. Men and women. Young and old. Sporting and sedentary. Professional and blue collar. The principles of this unique philosophy seemed wholly transferable and consistently effective.
“They were adopting my simple strategies for wellness, and were exceeding physical achievements they had previously given up on.”
Within 8 months the practice outgrew the basic home facilities, and I relocated to larger professional premises. I was now on a mission. By the second year the practice had tripled in size, a team of like-minded physiotherapists had surrounded me and we were determined to scale this new approach to anyone who was in need.
I’m not sharing this history to chronicle my achievements. However, I do want to impress on you that the philosophy that proved so effective and novel in my garage all those years ago is still the same approach that underpins Australia’s largest and fastest growing physiotherapy health group today. Christened in 2006 with the namesake Results4Life, this philosophy I’m describing became a way of thinking and a culture amongst our physiotherapists. Our innovative service has empowered clients to achieve new results in health that previously didn’t seem possible with traditional approaches.
“I realised I couldn’t keep doing what everybody else was doing, if I wanted to achieve a result that nobody else was getting.”
Since launching our small practice I have lived and worked with an inquiring mind, always searching to uncover further secrets about how the body moves. I realised I couldn’t keep doing what everybody else was doing, if I wanted to achieve a result that nobody else was getting. When clients excelled in their recovery and went beyond their once confessed physical limitations I continuously sought answers, explanations and rationale that validated their incredible results. I always attempted to reverse engineer whatever benefits my clients claimed. I immersed myself in the detail for a number of years to unravel the rich woven tapestry of strategy