Traditionally, physicians’ approaches to treatment has been disease-based, not patient-based. That means that tradition medicine is like a game of Whack-a-Mole: identify and treat a problem here, identify and treat an issue there. What’s wrong with this approach is that there is no emphasis on stepping back and addressing the whole person – lifestyle/habit, genetic makeup, environmental factors and even personality elements.
That’s what functional medicine is all about. Functional medicine addresses the whole person, not just a set of symptoms or diseases. Functional medicine practitioners believe that the best treatment comes from a thorough understanding of the patient, including all parts of their life.
Functional medicine is not a rejection of traditional western medical approaches, but an expansion of them. Those who practice functional medicine believe in the importance of prevention, healthy lifestyle, nutrition, exercise, stress-management, and other wellness approaches to health treatment, in addition to standard treatment. Functional medicine marries the most tested and validated parts of “alternative” or “integrative” medicine with up-to-the-minute research and diagnostic techniques.
Complex and chronic diseases are escalating rapidly in today’s world. Almost always, these diseases have multiple causes, including environmental, diet, lifestyle, and even genetic triggers. Until recently, physicians were simply not trained in the importance of these factors.
That’s where Functional Medicine comes in. Based on science, research, and clinical analysis, Functional Medicine is a fully-integrated approach to care. Our goal is not simply to treat you when you are sick. It’s to keep you healthy and energetic; to help you avoid getting sick; to help you to live your best possible life. Have you ever heard the expression, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure?” That’s how Functional Medicine works.
Give us a call, or stop by, and see if you’d like to add a Functional Medicine assessment to your next visit.
