I had a conversation with Dr. Allison Hull about her perspective on wellness and the vision she has for her patients and practice. Dr. Hull is a primary care physician operating out of the Florida Medical Clinic in Wesley Chapel and is dual-certified in both pediatrics and internal medicine. She treats “the whole family…grandchildren up through great-grandparents.” 6 years out of residency, Dr. Hull focuses on wellness and prevention for her patients and finds great joy in witnessing the transformation that occurs when a patient comes to appreciate wellness, beginning the journey towards optimal health. She adds that once a patient starts making changes towards wellness, these changes frequently have a ‘domino effect’ on the patient’s family, friends, and co-workers who are inspired to make similar changes.
Dr. Hull’s approach to wellness has evolved through her observations of patients’ growth towards optimal health. She noticed early on in her practice that 50-60% of her patients’ visits were initiated due to circumstances related to poor coping skills, anxiety, and depression. She found that the process of helping her patients correct their unhealthy behaviors (such as unhealthy eating or lack of sufficient exercising) mirrors the process of fighting an addiction. She further explained that these unhealthy behaviors have their own set of rewards for her patients, causing the behaviors to form habits and eventually a full set of unhealthy coping skills. She has even been able to notice these trends developing in her patients as young as 3 years old.
Her solutions for addressing these unhealthy coping skills center around cognitive-behavioral strategies suited to each patient’s unique situation. When consulting with her patients, she frequently asks them to create a top 10 list of why they want to be healthy. They’re then encouraged to envision what their optimal state of health will look like and read their list every day to stay on track with their specific goals. She then follows up with patients on subsequent visits to check in on how they are progressing. Other strategies she uses include breathing exercises and meditation. She feels the three most important drugs she prescribes are “what you eat, how you move, and what you think.” She views her visits with patients as an opportunity to help them rewire their behavioral pathways.
Dr. Hull’s vision for her clients’ wellness resonates with me, particularly with her approach to addressing the root cause of their ailment by helping them form better coping methods to deal with anxiety and depression. Similarly, I focus the root cause by addressing the underlying core distortion of my clients’ structure. The distortion has set these clients up to be more injury-prone because their muscles have had to physically compensate for the weakness it has established. It is apparent because the muscles have to work in an imbalanced manner, giving outward expression to something caused from within. At its core this compensation is the musculoskeletal version of a poor coping mechanism. When my clients come to me, they are generally seeking to ameliorate a functional issue due to an injury they experienced as their bodies have become less able to compensate for the structural weakness as a result of its progression. By unwinding the core distortion and bringing their bodies into a more balanced structure, I am able to provide them with a stronger and more stable structure. This then allows them to reclaim the strength they were allocating to compensate for the underlying structural issue to use for something more interesting. I find that this helps them get to a point where they are actually stronger than they were directly before they had the injury that caused them to come see me. In this way, their injury becomes the catalyst for positive change, rather than a devastating mark towards inevitable decline.
For more information on Dr. Hull’s practice and to stay up to date with her wellness initiatives at Florida Medical Clinic, check out their website here.
