What is Functional Medicine?
Functional medicine addresses the underlying causes of disease, using a systems-oriented approach and engaging both patient and practitioner in a therapeutic partnership. It 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 looking at 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?
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:
The History
The concept of Functional medicine (FM) was created in 1990 by Jeffery Bland, PhD, a nutritional biochemist, who went on to found The Institute of Functional Medicine with his wife, Susan. Their nonprofit (and accredited) education center in Gig Harbor, Washington, trains physicians who must complete a week-long on-site course, 15 additional hours of on-site training and more, including an exam—tough, yes, but nothing like med school.
What’s Functional medicine all about?
It aims to find and treat the underlying causes of chronic conditions—from headaches and bowel issues to illnesses that don’t tidily fit a Western diagnosis. Western medicine is good at naming diseases or illnesses and then prescribing drugs for the symptoms. But it often fails to explore their cause. That’s where FM steps in, with a thorough root-cause health-and-diet analysis, and with patient and doctor working like detectives on a case to find the culprits. Therapies may include supervised detoxes (no sugar or wheat) to simple probiotics. Diet changes are a common prescription.
When to use Functional Medicine?
Western medicine is great in a health crisis. If you’re having a heart attack, your appendix needs to come out, or you’ve broken a bone, you are not going to consult give be recommended acupuncture or Chinese herbs. But for chronic day-to-day problems, what works is Traditional Chinese Medicine, and a Functional medicine approach—getting your diet and sleep in a health-promoting place and having a stress-reduction practice.”
Who’s Functional Medicine for?
Given that Functional Medicine is about finding the roots of chronic problems and disease, it often attracts people who’ve been unable to find answers going a more traditional route. Our patients are mainstream people who’ve been beaten up in traditional medicine or have tried every natural approach on their own they have read about. A Functional Medicine practitioner is likely to spend a lot of time discussing your personal history and looking at things like your nutrition habits, how you deal with stress, and your emotional well-being.
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.
- 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.
- 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 is 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.
The History
The concept of Functional medicine (FM) was created in 1990 by Jeffery Bland, PhD, a nutritional biochemist, who went on to found The Institute of Functional Medicine with his wife, Susan. Their nonprofit (and accredited) education center in Gig Harbor, Washington, trains physicians who must complete a week-long on-site course, 15 additional hours of on-site training and more, including an exam—tough, yes, but nothing like med school.
What’s Functional medicine all about?
It aims to find and treat the underlying causes of chronic conditions—from headaches and bowel issues to illnesses that don’t tidily fit a Western diagnosis. Western medicine is good at naming diseases or illnesses and then prescribing drugs for the symptoms. But it often fails to explore their cause. That’s where FM steps in, with a thorough root-cause health-and-diet analysis, and with patient and doctor working like detectives on a case to find the culprits. Therapies may include supervised detoxes (no sugar or wheat) to simple probiotics. Diet changes are a common prescription.
When to use Functional Medicine?
Western medicine is great in a health crisis. If you’re having a heart attack, your appendix needs to come out, or you’ve broken a bone, you are not going to consult give be recommended acupuncture or Chinese herbs. But for chronic day-to-day problems, what works is Traditional Chinese Medicine, and a Functional medicine approach—getting your diet and sleep in a health-promoting place and having a stress-reduction practice.”
Who’s Functional Medicine for?
Given that Functional Medicine is about finding the roots of chronic problems and disease, it often attracts people who’ve been unable to find answers going a more traditional route. Our patients are mainstream people who’ve been beaten up in traditional medicine or have tried every natural approach on their own they have read about. A Functional Medicine practitioner is likely to spend a lot of time discussing your personal history and looking at things like your nutrition habits, how you deal with stress, and your emotional well-being.