Anatomy Isn't Real

Anatomy, which is commonly thought of as the study of the human body, is a flawed concept to begin with.

Here is what the word anatomy actually means.

The prefix ana- in this case means “up or apart” and the suffix -tomy means cutting, as in cutting apart.

Anatomy is helpful for studying different parts of the body to learn different functions. This is the approach taken by pretty much all health care and science programs that teach about the body.

However, that’s not actually how the body is in real life. It’s not an accurate description of the body. The body doesn’t work in compartmentalized fragments that operate separately and distinctly from each other.

Take the lungs for example. The purpose of them is to help us breath. They intake oxygen. But automatically, when we talk about the lungs, we have to include capillaries, the tiny blood vessels that actually take in the oxygen, in the discussion because that’s where the lungs move
the oxygen to, and the lungs are 100% unable to do anything apart from the capillaries.

And if we have to include capillaries, we have to include the capillary walls without which the capillaries wouldn’t exist, and the capillary walls are made up of myofascia.

So if we include the capillary walls, which we have to, then we have to include the myofascial system holding those blood vessels in place. And if you mention myofascia, then you can’t exclude muscles, which are wholly dependent on bones…. etc, etc, etc.

Eventually you just have The Body, and not just The Lungs.

Everything is so interdependent and codependent and inseparable that you can’t talk about one thing without talking about the other things.

Here’s the mistake most doctors make. It is of course helpful to study anatomy to learn what the different parts in the body do to work together. But it’s a huge mistake to then approach doing an intervention with a patient as if each part works independently or individually without the rest of the system, the way anatomy is studied.

Here’s an example. Heart disease is not usually a problem with the heart. The heart usually suffers when there are systemic problems with The Body. The food being eaten is not healthy, the body is not being exercised, etc.

If the doctor sees heart disease and only looks at the heart, then they are taking an unrealistic, anatomy based approach. But if they see heart disease and intervene with a systemic, whole body approach, (such as changing diet and exercise) then that’s a realistic, functional approach. The heart may still need to be dealt with, but so do other things as well, not just the heart. This is why holistic health care is growing so rapidly. The whole person needs to be helped, not just one of their anatomical parts.

When you impact one part of the body, you impact every part of the body, so let’s not get stuck in anatomy, let’s grow beyond anatomy to see the whole person.