Functional Medicine
There are a lot of people who do not feel well. This could include you.
When you feel sick, it can be a problem for you and your traditional doctor because many times he or she can’t find out what the source of the problem is.
Why you feel tired, why you have digestive problems, why you can’t sleep, why you are depressed, why you get those head aches, the list goes on…
This is because traditional medicine is diagnosis-centered. It does best when it can see what is wrong with you by diagnostic tests. It looks for disease and when you have one, it goes into action in a methodical way using drugs or surgery to handle the disease found. Up to that time a patient is considered “well”.
It is not very helpful if you exist from day to day feeling terrible waiting for a disease to occur before you can be treated!
This is where Functional Medicine comes in. It can address your problems before you get the disease.
What is Functional Medicine?
This has been defined as “a field of health care focused upon the assessment and early intervention for the improvement of physiological, mental and physical function”. Thus it addresses you as an individual and finds and locates what areas your body is not efficiently handling and focuses on altering these abnormalities back to their optimal state.
Functional Medicine is outcome-based, it addresses you as a discreet, holographic person and attempts to improve your biomechanical, physiological and mental status back to where they should be. It attempts to restore organ reserve and resiliency and get you back on track, living life to the full again.
How do you assess someone with functional medicine? This is done in a number of ways. These include:
1. Signs and symptoms questionnaire – This is specifically designed to evaluate your symptom severity, duration and frequency in a rating system. It is useful in assessing the degree of your dysfunction and is continually used to determine the success of intervention.
2. A good history and physical examination – This is the key to locate what your problems are and establishes a strong communication channel between you and your health professional.
3. Biomechanical assessment tools – There are new tools available which can assess whether your body has reduced functional capabilities.
Gastrointestinal and liver function are key areas which are essential to good health. Finding and correcting poorly functioning (not diseased) liver and gut and correcting the problem is a must in the “walking dead” patient.
Low tech but effective methods are now available for assessing the function of these two areas which are patient-friendly and non-invasive. Intervention programmes could include nutrient tailoring and support, dietary tailoring, structural and mechanical support, exercise prescription, stress intervention and environmental restructuring.
These are the tools of the new breed of health care professionals. It is these tools when correctly used that can get you or your friends back to improved function and better health.
