Functional Medicine

Functional Medicine addresses the underlying root cause of disease using a systems-oriented approach that engages both patient and practitioner in a therapeutic partnership. It seeks to understand the origins of chronic disease so that meaningful treatment and prevention methods can be applied in order to initiate a thorough healing response.

A Functional Medicine approach is essentially a partnership between the patient and the doctor. The goal of this partnership is to bring the patient back to health while informing the patient about the core principles of health maintenance and prevention.

As the image of the volcano illustrates below, a named disease such as diabetes, cancer, or fibromyalgia might be visible above the surface, but when using the Functional Medicine approach, the real issue lies in the altered physiology caused by factors found below the surface.  Traditional medicine often treats one area of the overall problem and rarely leads to long-term relief, vibrancy and well-being.  Functional Medicine identifies and treats the underlying root causes and has a much greater chance of successfully resolving a patient’s health challenge.