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Functional Medicine is best described, I think, as a unique way of evaluating and thinking about your HEALTH. Have you ever played Jenga or built a house of cards? You know that when things topple, it is likely because of ill-placed brick or card at the base of the structure. In functional medicine, when disease occurs we look to see what are those poorly placed bricks in the foundation. Instead of the focus being on the last brick that topples the structure, we focus on the bricks that were placed before the tipping point. Why rebuild on the same foundation that led to heart disease, thyroid problems or cancer? When it comes to functional medicine treatment, a functional medicine practitioner looks at what changes can be made to improve the very foundation of the patients’ overall health, instead of simply treating the symptoms of disease.
Nutrition is one of the basic health supports. Have you ever asked yourself: Is what I am eating daily improving my health or making it worse? Everything, including our genetics, the biology of our cells, and how our organ system functions are influenced by what we eat. In Functional Medicine, we ask about your diet and create a personalized diet plan for your unique health condition. We ask about your health history, look at your lab biomarkers, body composition, and physical exam in order to formulate the right plan for YOU. What is interesting is that there can be two people with the exact same condition, but their plan will be completely different as far as macronutrients (proteins, fats, and carbohydrates) and serving sizes because of the personalized nature of the treatment plans. Whole fresh foods, especially plants, should be the basis of all eating patterns. It is the specific, customized details that make it personal.
Exercise and movement are additional parts of optimal health. How much or how little we move our body influences everything from the structure of the bones, muscles, and fascia as well as their function. How much or how little we move our body affects not only our cellular health, metabolism, but also our organ systems like the heart and the brain.
In addition, sleep imbalances and disorders can be another lifestyle area of focus in a good functional medicine treatment plan. How many hours and when you sleep can have a big impact on how your body functions. A sleep deficit can creep up on you affecting your overall resilience and resistance to disease over time. A functional medicine doctor will ask about your sleep quantity and quality.
Do you ever just spend time “being”? Resting and relaxing with friends and family, or solo, is just as important as our movement. This is a factor especially for modern life where our digital awareness is twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. I think that as time goes on we are going to be hearing more and more about how our digital world is impacting our health. Functional Medicine asks these types of questions and seeks out if is a major factor in your health.
We work on building stress resilience in a Functional Medicine practice. Stress is often at least a contributing factor if not the key misplaced block in our health pyramid for many people. We ask and we test for imbalances in stress hormones because we know that the body’s ability to heal is dependent on stress management.
People thrive on connection to others. A person’s social network, family and community influences health in ways we barely understand but know that is part of the whole picture. We ask about relationships and community as part of our detailed evaluation of an individual because again – it matters.
We love our lab data in functional medicine and never in human history have we had so much information at our fingertips. We can look at genetic predispositions to help figure out perhaps what kind of diets are best for our patients, what type of screening exams we should do for early detection, and most importantly determine what can we do to prevent the development of a medical condition. Of course, there is still so much more to learn about the human genome but in this age of big data and genetic testing, functional medicine doctors typically try to stay up on the latest studies and genetic association data to try to help their patients.
We look at the body from a system perspective. Each system affects all the others. For example, there is a problem with hormone balance, we know that it will affect the immune system or the gastrointestinal system. The human body is a dynamic reactive perfect design and will always try to maintain balance or in medical terms “homeostasis”. It is when our body’s compensation patterns are exceeded that symptoms and disease occurs. It, therefore, makes a whole lot of sense from a functional medicine perspective to treat the system dysfunction because it will have the greatest impact on every level in the body.
The mind, the body and spirit are interconnected and is at the very center of a Functional Medicine evaluation. We strive to meet our patient’s where they are in their growth as a unique beautiful human being. We help them toward not just their health goals, but their life goals as well.
Functional Medicine is not just a form of Integrative Medicine, it is a way of thinking and a way of being for those who study, practice and receive it.
Contact us to learn more about functional medicine, osteopathic medicine, and our personalized approach to treatment. Read more about how you can start improving your health with functional medicine or how you can start your treatment with a healthy detox today!
