While most people know what Physical Therapy is, Functional Medicine is not as widely known.
This natural and effective treatment method encompasses a full body approach to pain, discomfort, illness, and dysfunction.
According to The Institute For Functional Medicine, this method is defined as “a systems biology–based approach that focuses on identifying and addressing the root cause of disease.” It looks at all the symptoms that a person has, as one diagnosis may actually be caused by several different factors, rather than one specific piece of the puzzle.
At Orthopedic Sports Therapy, the full body approach that this entails is one that we try to consistently apply to our practices. If you’d like to learn more about functional medicine and how we use it at our clinic, feel free to contact us today.
How will a Functional Medicine treatment plan benefit me?
There are several benefits to this medicine. However, we believe the three-fold tier that Science Based Medicine lays out illustrates the key aspects of this approach best:
- Functional Medicine offers a powerful new operating system and clinical model for assessment, treatment, and prevention of chronic disease to replace the outdated and ineffective acute-care models carried forward from the 20th century.
- Functional Medicine incorporates the latest in genetic science, systems biology, and understanding of how environmental and lifestyle factors influence the emergence and progression of disease.
- Functional Medicine enables physicians and other health professionals to practice proactive, predictive, personalized medicine and empowers patients to take an active role in their own health.
This approach allows patients to take charge of their treatment plan, identifying addressing potentially harmful lifestyle factors that could cause their condition to worsen. For example, a large part of our functional medicine approach is focused around wellness and nutrition. Yes – simple lifestyle and dietary changes can make a world of a difference in helping treat the many causes of your pain or discomfort.
The whole focus around this is natural pain relief – helping patients understand what will help them and employing those measures into their daily lives, without the need for invasive treatment or pain-management medication.
How can I get started?
Our wellness and nutrition-based approach to functional medicine begins with an evaluation. Our highly trained and experienced team members will analyze your lifestyle, symptoms, and severity of discomfort in different locations. From there, they will help you figure out what changes can be made to help relieve all symptoms to get you back to a happy and healthy life, rather than simply treating one and masking the rest.
At the end of the day, our team at Orthopedic Sports Therapy in Ahwatukee, Biltmore and Tempe, AZ believes in the effects of functional medicine because it helps patients reclaim their lives. We want to make sure that your health and wellness is here for the long haul – and functional medicine can help you get there. Contact us today to get started!
Sources:
https://www.ifm.org/functional-medicine/what-is-functional-medicine/