Functional medicine is an approach to health that yields surprising benefits, particularly if you have a chronic condition such as heart disease or diabetes. At Family Acupuncture and Wellness in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Adam Learner, LAc, and his staff approach your health a bit differently.
We begin by placing you at the center of everything we do, which is a crucial step in functional medicine. In this post we describe five of the benefits you can expect from this approach to health and care.
When you have a disease like pneumonia, your doctor likely treats both your symptoms and the virus or bacteria that’s causing your symptoms. Functional medicine is all about finding and treating the cause of your symptoms.
For example, many diseases are rooted in out-of-control inflammation. If we can identify the cause of that inflammation, those diseases are no longer active.
Although we may address your symptoms along with their root cause, our main goal is to get to the bottom of why you’re having problems.
Instead of looking at your parts in isolation, or considering your symptoms one at a time, our approach dictates we look at you as a whole organism. You have different systems, but they all work in conjunction with one another.
If you’re under a great deal of stress, it can impact your sleep, your blood pressure, and many other parts of your physical well-being. Learning techniques to better manage stress could have unexpected health benefits.
In conventional, western medicine, you usually only see your healthcare providers when you’re sick. In functional medicine, we work to help you reach optimal health, which means that we see you when you’re not sick, so that you don’t get sick.
By helping you reach an optimal level of health by addressing lifestyle factors and underlying causes of illness, functional medicine helps you function better on a day-to-day basis. Better functionality and optimal health mean living a life you enjoy.
You may wonder if integrative medicine or alternative treatments are scientifically sound approaches, and the answer is that it depends on the practitioner. There are unethical, poorly trained practitioners out there, but not at Family Acupuncture and Wellness.
We almost always begin with bloodwork. We follow the evidence in looking at your condition, and consider your lifestyle, results of your bloodwork, and symptoms in order to determine interventions that may improve your health.
You are an active participant in your own health in functional medicine. You do the work to improve your health. We are here as your partners, to guide your efforts and provide deep knowledge.
A strong partnership can improve your health in surprising ways. When you take control of your health, you suddenly have the power to change it. We’re here to help.
If you’d like to learn more about functional medicine, schedule an appointment at Family Acupuncture and Wellness. We’re happy to answer your questions and discuss the benefits you may see in your specific circumstances.
