A relatively new approach to medical treatment, Functional Medicine uses a novel approach to diagnose, prevent, and manage a host of complex and chronic ailments. The focus of Functional Medicine is on discovering the often-hidden reasons for disease by engaging with patients. This approach permits the practitioner to find out the most effective methods for treating the patients’ illnesses. Functional Medicine is a healthcare model based on a patient-centric approach to the management of chronic diseases. In comparison to the conventional approach of medical diagnosis, Functional medicine tries to find out the reason why an individual is ill so that he can be treated in a personalized way for more effective outcomes.
The Principles of Functional Medicine
Functional Medicine relies on caregivers spending time to listen to the patients and collecting their medical history to identify the actual reasons for the illness. The root cause of an ailment can often involve triggers like stress, allergies, poor nutrition, exposure to toxins, and even the individual’s microbiome. Once the triggers of the illness are identified, functional medicine practitioners can devise a customized living plan for optimum health for the individual. Typically, the plan will involve diverse aspects of life, ranging from physical requirements of the body like nutrition, sleep, and exercise to mental and emotional aspects related to relationships in work, community, and social life. Often, the first line of therapy employed in Functional Medicine is food and nutrition. It is well established that proper food along with modifications of lifestyle and behavior can lead to better health. Some benefits of Active Edge functional medicine:
Personalization of Treatment
The focus of Functional Medicine is to find out exactly what the patient is suffering from and the underlying reasons behind it. Since the healthcare practitioner scrutinizes the patient’s medical history and lifestyle in detail as well as the environment to discover the underlying factors behind the illness, a unique patient-centric health enhancement plan can be developed. According to a Forbes report, since each patient has a unique biochemistry, the treatment of health issues too has to be customized.
Broad-Based Treatment
Unlike other streams of medical treatment that tend to disregard each other’s principles of treatment, Functional Medicine combines the best of conventional medical treatment with multiple approaches to alternative medicine. While Functional Medicine acknowledges that conventional methods of treatment have their strengths for curing severe illnesses, it often fails to resolve chronic health issues. It is for this reason that practitioners of Functional Medicine use all the healing tools available to help treat their patients and mitigate the impact of chronic ailments. Typically, this involves multiple approaches of treatment and a special focus on diet and nutrition, exercise, and mental relaxation. The intent is to attain wellness and vitality on a sustainable basis.
Conclusion
In stark contrast to the approach of conventional medicine that relies on treating the symptoms rather than the underlying causes of the disease, the multifunctional approach of Functional Medicine results in a more holistic treatment of the patient. The focus is on discovering the reasons for the illness that can then be treated through a customized plan developed specifically for the individual patient comprising lifestyle modifications, changes in diet and nutrition, exercise, etc., to get to the root of the problem and create sustainable health.
