What Is Functional Medicine?
Functional medicine is an evolution in the practice of medicine that better addresses the healthcare needs of the 21st century. By shifting the traditional disease-centered focus of medical practice to a more patient-centered approach, functional medicine addresses the whole person, not just an isolated set of symptoms. Functional medicine practitioners spend time with their patients, listening to their histories and evaluating the interactions among genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors that can influence long-term health and complex, chronic disease. In this way, functional medicine supports the unique expression of health and vitality for each individual.
Why
Do We Need Functional Medicine?
Our society is experiencing a sharp increase in the number of people who suffer from complex, chronic diseases, such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer, mental illness, and autoimmune disorders like rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia.
The system of medicine practiced by most physicians is oriented toward acute care, the diagnosis and treatment of trauma or illness that is of short duration and in need of urgent care, such as appendicitis or a broken leg. Physicians apply specific, prescribed treatments such as drugs or surgery that aim to treat the immediate problem or symptom.
Unfortunately, the acute-care approach to medicine lacks the proper methodology and tools for preventing and treating complex, chronic disease. In most cases it does not take into account the unique genetic makeup of each individual or factors such as environmental exposures to toxins and the aspects of today’s lifestyle that have a direct influence on the rise in chronic disease in modern Western society.
There’s a huge gap between research and the way doctors practice. The gap between emerging research in basic sciences and integration into medical practice is enormous—as long as 50 years—particularly in the area of complex, chronic illness. Functional medicine’s aim is to evaluate, assess, and carefully enfold emerging research in a practical, efficient, and safe manner.
Most physicians are not adequately trained to assess the underlying causes of complex, chronic disease and to apply strategies such as nutrition, diet, and exercise to both treat and prevent these illnesses in their patients.
How
Is Functional Medicine Different?
Functional medicine involves understanding the origins, prevention, and treatment of complex, chronic disease. Hallmarks of a functional medicine approach include:
Patient-centered
care. The focus of
functional medicine is on patient-centered care, promoting health
as a positive vitality, beyond just the absence of disease. By
listening to the patient and learning
his or her story, the practitioner brings the patient into the
discovery process and tailors treatments
that address the individual’s unique needs.
An
integrative, science-based healthcare approach. Functional
medicine practitioners look “upstream”
to consider the complex web of interactions in the patient’s
history, physiology, and lifestyle
that can lead to illness. The unique genetic makeup of each patient
is considered, along with both
internal (mind, body, and spirit) and external (physical and social
environment) factors that affect total
functioning.
Integrating best medical practices. Functional medicine integrates traditional Western medical practices with what are sometimes considered “alternative” or “integrative” medicine, creating a focus on prevention through nutrition, diet, and exercise; use of the latest laboratory testing and other diagnostic techniques; and prescribed combinations of drugs and/or botanical medicines, supplements, therapeutic diets, detoxification programs, or stress-management techniques.
Working
with a Functional Medicine Practitioner
Functional medicine practitioners promote wellness by focusing on the fundamental underlying factors that influence every patient’s experience of health and disease.
The Functional Medicine Approach to Assessment
The Institute for Functional Medicine teaches practitioners how to assess the patient’s fundamental clinical imbalances through careful history taking, physical examination, and laboratory testing. The functional medicine practitioner will consider multiple factors, including:
Environmental inputs – The air you breathe and the water you drink, the particular diet you eat, the quality of the food available to you, your level of physical exercise, and toxic exposures or traumas you have experienced all affect your health.
Mind-body connections – Psychological, spiritual, and social factors all can have a profound influence on your health. Considering these areas helps the functional medicine practitioner see your health in the context of you as a whole person, not just your physical symptoms.
Genetic makeup – Although individual genes may make you more susceptible to some diseases, your DNA is not an unchanging blueprint for your life. Emerging research shows that your genes may be influenced by everything in your environment, as well as your experiences, attitudes, and beliefs. That means it is possible to change the way genes are activated and expressed.
Through
assessment of these underlying causes and triggers of dysfunction,
the functional medicine
practitioner is able to understand how key processes are affected.
These are the body’s processes
that keep you alive. Some occur at the cellular level and involve how
cells function, repair, and maintain
themselves. These processes are related to larger functions, such as:
how your body rids itself of toxins
regulation of hormones and neurotransmitters
immune system function
inflammatory responses
digestion and absorption of nutrients and the health of the digestive tract
structural integrity
psychological and spiritual equilibrium
how you produce energy
All
of these processes are influenced by both environmental factors and
your genetic make-up; when they
are disturbed or imbalanced, they lead to symptoms, which can lead to
disease if effective interventions
are not applied.
A
Comprehensive Approach to Treatment
Most imbalances in functionality can be addressed; some can be completely restored to optimum function, and others can be substantially improved.
Prevention is paramount. Virtually every complex, chronic disease is preceded by long-term disturbances in functionality that can be identified and effectively managed.
Changing how the systems function can have a major impact on the patient’s health. The functional medicine practitioner examines a wide array of available interventions and customizes a treatment plan including those with the most impact on underlying functionality.
Functional
medicine expands the clinician’s tool kit. Treatments
may include combinations of drugs,
botanical medicines, nutritional supplements, therapeutic diets, or
detoxification programs. They may
also include counseling on lifestyle, exercise, or stress-management
techniques.
The patient becomes a partner. As a patient, you become an active partner with your functional medicine practitioner. This allows you to really be in charge of improving your own health and changing the outcome of disease.
This information is from The Institute for Functional Medicine which is a nonprofit educational organization. Visit us at www.functionalmedicine.org or call us at 1-800-228-0622
©2005, 2006, 2007 The Institute for Functional Medicine
Call for an appointment today!
Marc A Katz DPM
508 S. Habana Ave., Suite 200
Tampa, FL 33609
(813) 875-0555
katzdpm@yahoo.com