If you have been following me for some time you have seen me either write or speak about this in the past, I don’t want to be redundant, however, it is important to understand this concept.
Firstly to define both of these. Understanding that health and performance are on sliding scales and therefore the definition will be different for different populations. For example, health to an 80 year old man may be getting onto the toilet and off of the toilet without pain while health may be the triathlete paying attention to biometrics and saying their resting heart rate is 40. The same goes for performance which could mean doing a single pushup to squatting 700lbs. This shows that there is a scale of these words based on perception and interpretation of one’s own position.
Health: In my eyes health we are looking at a properly functioning body. A body that can move fluidly without pain or discomfort, a body that can sleep, breath, eat, digest, and reproduce (depending on age) without trouble. If the body functions properly then these things will be in top order.
Performance: Looking for markers, strength, mobility, intelligence, social status, etc above and beyond the “healthy” person. Understanding that because one category is advanced, another category must suffer to have this level of performance.
Now, why is this so important – well in order to be healthy you must work, between treatment, self care, and nutrition to become healthy. While increasing performance to the highest level also requires a base of a healthy person. If the base does not exist and is not maintained then you will see a person who gets injured, sick, tired, stressed, etc.
When it comes to Osteopathy and movement we are striving for the patient’s goals, but we want them to understand that depending on the performance goals there are consequences to the health constituent.
Last example:
Wanting to Run a marathon – this will indeed make your cardiovascular system healthier (although some would argue it strains the heart too much and creates hypertrophy). With this, there will be more joint damage, more stress, and less recovery on the system. Long-term leading potentially to hip, knee, ankle problems, leading to digestive disorders, and depending on the levels of stress leading to mental disorders.
