How Healthy Are You?

Dr. Barry Marks, chiropractor and natural health expert asks “How Healthy Are You?“

Overall Health Assessment

Your overall health is not a single factor. True health, or wellness, is when the many aspects of your life are all working in sync. You may be doing well in one aspect of your health, but not so great in another. The key then is to elevate all the areas so that they are all at optimum levels. Your overall health assessment therefore must measure where you are in each realm of health. Each must have an objective number or score. A plan is then made to elevate the lowest scoring items and balance out your overall health. Later testing will reveal if improvements are being made and your health plan can be adjusted.

Doctors and researchers have used questionnaires, tests and surveys over the years to assess health. Some of these are standardized and generally regarded as bench-marks for specific conditions. Surveys for headaches, neck and back pain, etc are common and used all over the world. Surveys for overall health however is a bit trickier. Because “health” is so broad and encompasses so much, it’s difficult to design a test without it being 10 pages long! The other difficulty is that the few that exist are designed by “for profit” companies who charge a fee to take and score the test. Fortunately, there are some that are fairly short and also free to the public.

Realms of Health and Wellness

Physical Health
Your physical body. Do you have aches and pains? Are you fit?

Mental Health
Your emotional well-being. Are you anxious? Do you suffer from depression? Do you have obsessive issues?

Spiritual Health
Your connection to your higher power. Are you a believer? Do you feel connected to your beliefs?

Family Health
Your interaction with family. Is your family life health and happy?

Social Health
Your interaction with friends, co-workers. Are you engaging in healthy socializing or retreating?

Career Health
Your job or career. Are you satisfied with your career or are you struggling?

Financial Health
The state of your finances. Are you stressed over money and bills?

The Health Wheel (Wellness Wheel)

The health wheel is a graphic tool to plot how satisfied you are within the different realms of health. Many iterations of this device exists and it is widely used. It uses a multi-colored circle or wheel. Numerical scores from 0 to 10, “0” means “completely unsatisfied, couldn’t get worse” and “10” means “totally satisfied, couldn’t get better” are plotted in each area of health. Once a mark has been made in each aspect of health, a line is drawn from point to point. The ideal result would be all aspects of health are at good and equal levels so that the lines drawn create a nice round wheel that would roll easily. If your wheel has many jagged edges because some aspects are high and some are low, your wheel will not roll well and therefore your health is out of balance. This may be why you have pain, feel tired, sad or unhappy. The health wheel is easy to see and understand and will point out areas that need to be addressed to get you on your path to wellness. Here’s a video about the Health Wheel.

Dr. Marks uses the Health Wheel to coach patients who desire greater overall health and wellness. The health wheel is step one, then an action plan is designed to balance the wheel.

PROMIS® Scale v1.2 – Global Health

The PROMIS Scale v1.2 Global Health is a short survey to assess overall physical and mental health. It was created by a society of doctors and scientists, the PROMIS® Health Organization (PHO), funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) interested in advancing the use of patient questionnaires for measuring and tracking health and treatment outcomes.

The Global Health survey is a nice way to get an overall view of how the patient feels about various aspects of health. A score is derived and compared to a scale. Ratings are from Poor to Excellent and the test is repeatable after lifestyle changes have been made. Like other health questionnaires it is mostly words and numbers so doesn’t have the same visual impact as the health wheel, but the score sheet given by the doctor does show a graphic using words and colors to show overall health as poor (red), fair (orange), good (yellow), very good (yellow to green) and excellent (full green).

How Healthy Are You?

Dr. Barry Marks, Chiropractor can help you answer this question by administering both the Health Wheel and then PROMIS Global Health survey. From these exercises, a plan of action can be made to make improvements in each of the areas of health. Dr. Marks will then coach you through your plan to assist you in your quest for wellness. Periodically the tests are re-taken and the results analyzed.

Total Health and Wellness Check

The Total Health and Wellness Check is a 2-day evaluation process designed by Dr. Marks to assess your overall health.

Day 1

Consult of your past health history and any current complaints or health concerns
Health Wheel exercise
PROMIS Global Health survey
Physical examination (height, weight, blood pressure, pulse, oxygenation, saliva pH, brain balance, reflexes, chiropractic posture analysis

Upon completion of day 1, you will be given further questionnaires to take home. You may be referred out for other testing, x-rays, lab, etc.

Day 2

You will be presented with a personalized comprehensive report of your findings called the Total Health and Wellness Report.
You will be given a step by step Total Health and Wellness Action Plan detailing what you need to do to make significant and meaningful changes in your life to achieve greater wellness.
An opportunity to embark upon a journey to Total Health and Wellness coached by Dr Barry Marks, DC.

Value of the Total Health and Wellness Check is $247. As a visitor to DrMarks.com your cost is only $49! This evaluation is very time intensive for Dr. Marks, so it must be by appointment only and Dr. Marks limits how many he can do in a day.