The Practices of the Healthcare Athlete represent a biologically consistent framework for the pursuit of health, wellbeing, and stainable high performance. Understanding this framework is useful.
Dr. Darin Davidson partners with Learner+, a CME/CE reflective learning platform for healthcare providers. For the opportunity to reflect on this article and earn CME/CE credits, Launch here. Check out all past articles which are also eligible for reflections and CME/CE credits.
For downloadable, actionable strategies and tactics to leverage biology in the pursuit of health, wellbeing, and sustainable high performance, visit the resource store, Launch here. Chapters are arranged by topic so those of interest can be selected and each are also eligible for reflections and CME/CE credits through Learner+.
The Practices of the Healthcare Athlete is an evidence driven, scientifically backed, and real world tested paradigm for the pursuit of health, wellbeing, and sustainable high performance. It is based upon Polyvagal Theory, developed by Stephen Porges, PhD. The application within the high performance domain is developed from the work of Michael Allison.
While, initially, this paradigm was developed within the population of healthcare professionals, it applies equally to all those seeking to pursue health, wellbeing, and sustainable high performance irrespective of the domain in life. This perspective is equally applicable within all personal and professional pursuits. It is particularly pertinent for those in high demand domains in the service of others.
The purpose of this article is to provide a description and review of the framework underlying the Practices of the Healthcare Athlete. This can help to emphasize the relevance of these practices across all domains within our life.
To begin, it is helpful to understand what is intended through the title of the Practices of the Healthcare Athlete. The practice component of this framework relates to the process and journey towards health and continuous improvement across all aspects of our life. This is an ongoing endeavor, reflected by the use of the term ‘practice’. In addition, we never truly master this pursuit which is further reinforced through the concept of practice.
With respect to the healthcare component, at first glance, this may seem to relate only to those working within the healthcare system. While this was the original intent behind this paradigm, it has since expanded to include all those pursuing health and wellbeing. The practices within this framework are essential in the pursuit of improving health and wellbeing, not solely managing and treating disease, as seen within the paradigm of sickcare, which is too often the emphasis of Western medicine. Within this paradigm, the integration of healthcare is in its broadest, most inclusive, and comprehensive perspective.
The term ‘athlete’ is used in a more global sense than that pertaining solely to high level competitive amateur and professional athletes. Rather the use of this term reflects the importance of deliberate and intentional development of the necessary skills to grow, improve, and be at our best across all aspects of our life. These attributes are common across all competitive athletes which is the basis for use of this term.
Within the paradigm of the Practices of the Healthcare Athlete, the foundation is built upon the pursuit of health and wellbeing. If we are to choose to pursue high performance in a durable and sustainable fashion, this can only be accomplished on the basis of a solid foundation of health and wellbeing, which is promoted through two primary components.
The first component within the pursuit of health and wellbeing is to strengthen our anchored and grounded states. These states are necessary in order for our body to recover, restore, and return to homeostasis following any challenge we may encounter. In particular, when we are considering healing and return to health following injury or illness, it is particularly important that we are able to deliberately shift our biology into anchored and grounded states to facilitate recovery and restoration.
The second component of health and wellbeing is the improvement of nervous system flexibility. This is an essential component. Irrespective of the strength of our skills and abilities to maintain a strong anchored and grounded state, it is inevitable that our biology will shift into activated, attacking, anxious, overwhelmed, and shutdown states in response to the situations we encounter. When this occurs, it is important that we have the ability to return to anchored and grounded states. This process is facilitated through improvement in nervous system flexibility. In essence, a nervous system which is highly flexible is one that allows us to experience the inevitable challenges and setbacks we will face across our life and return to anchored and grounded states as readily and efficiently as possible.
With a foundation of health and wellbeing in place, it becomes possible to pursue sustainable high performance, for those who choose to do so. It is important to emphasize the sustainable aspect to this endeavor. What is developed through the Practices of the Healthcare Athlete is not the ability to perform at a very high level over a short duration of time and return to baseline. Rather what is desired is the ability to maintain as high a level as possible over as long a period of time as possible. Furthermore, it is important within this paradigm that we not sacrifice health and wellbeing in order to perform at our best. Any attempt to do so will inevitably result in greater susceptibility to physical, emotional, and psychological ailments. It is not possible to perform at a high level on a sustainable basis if we do so at the expense of our health and wellbeing.
From the perspective of the Practices of the Healthcare Athlete, sustainable high performance must be built upon a solid foundation of health and wellbeing. This is accomplished through additional layers of skills to provide the optimal biological basis for pursuing performance at our highest level and continuously improving.
The first additional layer within the pursuit of sustainable high performance relates to the ability to shift into optimal states for performance. Within the terminology of the Practices of the Healthcare Athlete, this relates to the mobilized state. This represents a hybrid state between anchored and grounded states and activated states. The attributes which naturally emerge from this state are ideal for the expression of the necessary physical, psychological, and emotional skills and attributes needed to pursue our performance at our highest level. In addition, flow state which is widely believed to be the optimal state for human performance naturally emerges from within the mobilized state. Michael Allison’s terminology of the Play Zone is synonymous with the mobilized state within the paradigm of the Practices of the Healthcare Athlete.
The second layer required for sustainable high performance is the ability to manage fear based hindrances. This applies equally across the internal, external, and relational pathways. This has been described in several past articles. Essentially if we are to pursue our highest level of performance, we will inevitably be exposed to situations in which we are not successful in performing various skills, we are vulnerable to the opinions and judgments of other people, and self-doubt will inevitably creep in. If we are to pursue sustainable high performance, it is therefore essential that we manage these fear based hindrances to the best extent possible. The specific strategies and tactics to do so have been discussed in past articles.
The third layer of sustainable high performance relates to enhanced methods and strategies for recovery and restoration. While recovery is essential in the pursuit of health and wellbeing, it is inevitable that if we are to pursue sustainable high performance, we will consume greater degrees of resources. In order to be able to continue to perform at a high level, we must have the ability to restore our resources during events, as well as return to baseline states and homeostasis and fully recover when we are able to do so. In the pursuit of sustainable high performance if we are not able to effectively recover and restore our resources, we will progressively experience a depletion of our resources which can lead to burnout as well as physical, psychological, and emotional ailments. The strategies and tactics underlying this layer have been described in past articles.
One additional important element within the Practices of the Healthcare Athlete is the integration of technology. Technological devices include wearable and other measurement devices. Some of these devices prioritize measurement of our underlying physiologic state while others directly contribute towards our ability to recover. Both types of devices are beneficial components so that we are able to fully optimize our mind-based and body-based skills in the pursuit of health, wellbeing, and sustainable high performance. These technological devices are considered to be supplements to the overall practices which complement our ability to be aware of our biological states, adjust our activity level on the basis of those states, as well as to have additional strategies to help us shift our biological states towards recovery and restoration states.
By understanding the framework underlying the Practices of the Healthcare Athlete, it is hoped that the benefit of embodiment of this paradigm is readily apparent. It is equally applicable across all personal and professional roles and domains. Health and wellbeing sits at the foundation of this perspective and for those who are interested, the practices related to sustainable high performance can be layered on top.
To learn more, including about polyvagal informed coaching for healthcare professionals and others in high demand domains please visit www.darindavidson.com.
Dr. Darin Davidson partners with Learner+, a CME/CE reflective learning platform for healthcare providers. For the opportunity to reflect on this article and earn CME/CE credits, Launch here. Check out all past articles which are also eligible for reflections and CME/CE credits.
For downloadable, actionable strategies and tactics to leverage biology in the pursuit of health, wellbeing, and sustainable high performance, visit the resource store, Launch here. Chapters are arranged by topic so those of interest can be selected and each are also eligible for reflections and CME/CE credits through Learner+.
REFERENCES
Allison, M. The Play Zone: A Neurophysiological Approach to our Highest Performance. https://theplayzone.com.
Porges SW, Porges S. Our Polyvagal World: How Safety and Trauma Change Us. New York: W.W. Norton & Company; 2023.
Porges SW. Polyvagal Perspectives: Interventions, Practices, and Strategies. New York: W.W. Norton & Company; 2024.