Functional Medicine

You may be familiar with the terms integrative medicine and functional medicine, but what do they mean? These practices can help you live a healthier life by providing you with a wide range of incredible benefits. Read on to learn more about these two types of medicine, so you can decide whether they’re right for you.

Integrative Medicine

The term integrative medicine is similar to holistic health in the way that it focuses on a person’s health as a whole rather than just a few specific parts. In essence, it is just good medicine. For example, acupuncture may help with anxiety or nerve pain. Healthy touch therapy is known to help patients dealing with a variety of issues like pain or stress. Even something as simple as getting guidance about how to implement a healthy diet and use specific supplements to improve your overall health can be part of the integrative medicine process. This practice is backed by evidence, and all treatments have been verified for both safety and effectiveness. It uses changes in lifestyle and a relationship with your medical practitioner to help you find the method of treatment that’s best for your specific concerns.

Functional Medicine

In functional medicine, you’ll dig deeper into the specific factors that are causing your condition. You’ll work with your doctor in a holistic way to get the complete picture of not just your physical health, but also your mental, emotional, and spiritual health. Everything is taken into consideration including your diet, your family genetics, any hormonal changes, and even the prescription medications that you take. All of these things will be taken into consideration to help your doctor get to the root cause of your illness. From sleep habits to nutrition and exercise, all of this information is used to help your doctor come up with an actionable plan to help you change your lifestyle, so you can get relief and become healthy again.