You might already know that 1 in 2 Aussies have some sort of chronic health condition – arthritis, asthma, back pain, cancer… But did you realise that chronic illness causes 9 out of 10 deaths?
Our society places a lot of weight on acute problems, and chronic conditions are often just managed with drugs, or surgery, but can be debilitating and ruin quality of life. I agree that drugs and surgery have their place to keep us alive – but do we really want to be managing our ongoing health issues this way? Drugs lead to side effects (and more drugs to treat those), while surgery can have hidden downsides, such as drug reactions, infections and leave us out of balance. So how can we find a better way?
