What Is Competent Self Care (And Why Do I Care)?

Note: This is an update on a post from 2007. Read the original post here.

The system of health in this country is faced with some significant problems. First of all, it is not a system of health at all – it is a system of illness. Our current system emphasizes "prevention" and yet we still have an increasing rate of chronic medical conditions. For example, 57% of adults are overweight, with 1 in 4 having a body mass index of 30 - a level that is considered obese. We would like to believe that our medical system is the best in the world – but we spend 50 percent more on health care than any other country in the world and yet rank only 15th in preventable death, 24th in life expectancy, and 28th in infant mortality.

I’d say that is sufficient testimony to the failure of the system of “health” we currently have in place in the United States.

How many health-related issues do we experience that can be readily dealt with on the basis of self-care strategies alone? And does an effective system of health require a bunch of providers applying interventions, or can patients apply many of those strategies themselves?

There is a solution that will involve not only systemic change, but cultural change as well. It’s name is Competent Self Care. What is Competent Self Care, and why should any of us care?

Many of the chronic health issues facing our society today - for example, heart disease and diabetes - are integrally related to self-care. Over time, these chronic conditions are going to bankrupt the medical system. Along with these chronic conditions, we have another set of conditions that are self-limiting and have their own natural history. Consider the common cold as but one example. How many people get it? Lots. But it has it's own self-limiting course that it takes, and with time (and an environment in which the immune system can respond as it is designed), the condition goes away. Another example is low back pain, a problem faced by about 80% of the population at any given time. The vast majority of back pain episodes resolve on their own - within 2 to 4 weeks - without doing a thing other than watching the clock. No therapies, no medicine - nothing.

And how about the ultimate in "chronic conditions" – aging. How many people get it? All of us! But if we do the things we can do, when we can do them, then "the effects of aging" may be minimized and our quality of life enhanced. Is this a passive condition that must rule our existence? Or would self-care strategies ultimately provide the best long-term option to improved function?

So here we are, faced with many aspects of our health that would be optimized (and many medical conditions that would respond favorably) if we simply applied self-care strategies. Competent Self Care requires active involvement. It involves learning and growth, acquiring skills and knowledge in order to enhance the quality of our lives and the world around us. The core competencies of Competent Self Care would include self-responsibility, developing an understanding of self-image and it's impact on your world, and gaining a knowledge and application of the sports sciences. Competent Self Care would liberate many people from the shackles, politics, and third party insanity of the health care "system". 

If we can continue to provide intelligent strategies for self-care - then the health care system as we know it will become less expensive and more effective if and when we need to access it. Better yet, the patient/client will have the personal power to make good decisions about their own self-care. And who better to implement the strategies for recovery, adaptation, and life-long fitness than the patients themselves?

Competent Self Care is the future of health and health care in this country. As I truly believe, knowledge is, indeed, power. If only we'd use it.

Photo credits: kevindooley