Functional Medicine is an individualized, root-cause approach to healthcare. Practitioners consider a patient’s diet, genetics, lifestyle factors, and environmental influences in order to uncover the root cause of their symptoms. A common health condition that brings people to a functional medicine practitioner is a cluster of symptoms that their primary care physician can’t seem to piece together into one diagnosis.
Patients that gravitate toward functional medicine want to find a way to address these symptoms without medication and its residual side effects. They are also looking for alternatives to surgery and pharmaceuticals, as well as an understanding that their health is a result of the interaction between their unique genome/epigenome, environment, lifestyle, and diet.
Uncovering the Core Principles of Functional Medicine: Treating the Root Causes of Disease
A typical appointment with a Functional Medicine practitioner looks very different from the traditional allopathic doctor’s office visit. A detailed intake with a medical history and a series of specialty labs are ordered in order to get a comprehensive overview of how the patient’s body is functioning. These labs are more specific than the standard laboratory values used in allopathic medicine, and they allow doctors to identify trends and markers that indicate a potential disease is on the horizon.
Once a root-cause diagnosis is made, the goal is to rebalance the body and address the initial strain that caused symptoms to manifest in the first place. Whether that is a digestive dysfunction, hormone imbalance, virus or food allergy, bacterial infection, chronic inflammation or an excess of toxic accumulation, the practitioner works to reduce symptoms and restore optimal function to the body. Many practitioners also work closely with nutritionists, mental health counselors and health coaches in order to give their patients a comprehensive approach to their health.
417 Integrative Medicine & Housecalls
1335 E Republic Rd D, Springfield, MO 65804, United States
Phone: +14173633900