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Functional Medicine: A Science Whose Time Has Come

Why haven’t I heard of functional medicine?

The short answer is, you will. The long answer is that altering the course of conventional medicine is like turning a big ship: It takes a while. Functional medicine started in the early 1990s as the brainstorm of a few doctors frustrated with a medical system that expected them to treat chronic disease with pills and surgeries.

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 The 5 Principles of Functional Medicine

The term “Functional Medicine” can seem rather ambiguous. Although this field is becoming more mainstream due to voices like Dr. Frank Lipman and Dr. Mark Hyman lauding it as the future of health care, functional medicine is still generally unknown to the public.

 What Is Functional Medicine? Here’s Why It’s Worth a Deeper Look

By focusing on a person's specific bio-individuality and health, functional medicine develops treatment plans—which might include supplements, along with other natural therapies and dietary protocols—to improve illness and better manage symptoms as well as increase health and happiness.

 Where Does Functional Medicine Go From Here?

It’s been the medicine for the very green, the very rich, and the very sick, the very desperate for that long. And if we want to make it out into the rest of medicine, we need to really start thinking about these types of topics, access. And I’ve heard someone say that medicine is not really functional unless it functions for everyone.

 Why Health Care Works Better Than Disease Care

Many people tend to think of breakthroughs in medicine as a new drug, laser, or high-tech surgical procedure. They often have a hard time believing that the simple choices that we make in our lifestyle--what we eat, how we respond to stress, whether or not we smoke cigarettes, how much exercise we get, and the quality of our relationships and social support--can be as powerful as drugs and surgery, but they often are. Sometimes, even better.

Articles of Interest

About Functional Medicine

FUNCTIONAL MEDICINE is the future of conventional medicine–available now. It seeks to identify and address the root causes of disease, and views the body as one integrated system, not a collection of independent organs divided up by medical specialties. It treats the whole system, not just the symptoms.

Defining Function in the Functional Medicine Model

The functional medicine model for health care is concerned less with what we call the dysfunction or disease, and more about the dynamic processes that resulted in the person’s dysfunction.

Determining Your Ideal Wellness Routine—Through Your Blood

Can blood work help provide a road map for our beauty and lifestyle choices?

Integrative Medicine vs. Functional Medicine: Is There a Difference?

Functional medicine works to correct problems in organs and the rest of the body using natural supplements wherever possible. While it does incorporate traditional medicine when necessary, functional medicine strives to use natural ways to fix health problems.

Just what is functional medicine and why do some DOs gravitate to it?

Learn more about this growing practice of personalized medicine, often described as ‘root cause medicine.’

The Functional Medicine Approach

Functional medicine is a systems biology–based approach that focuses on identifying and addressing the root cause of disease. Each symptom or differential diagnosis may be one of many contributing to an individual’s illness.

The Functional Medicine Approach: How (And Why) It Works

Chronic disease is spreading. Conventional medicine can’t stop it, but Functional Medicine can. Functional Medicine is a different approach to care, one that addresses the root cause of an illness instead of relying on drugs to suppress symptoms. It corrects the mismatch between our bodies and our environment through diet and lifestyle interventions. Functional Medicine is the future of healthcare, and it’s our best weapon against chronic disease.

Where To Get Functional Medicine Training

In 1990 Jeffrey Bland, Ph.D., coined the term Functional Medicine and started conducting regular seminars throughout the United States, sharing his knowledge on various subjects such as gastrointestinal health, immune health, hormone balance, and detoxification. He, along with his wife Susan, founded the first Functional Medicine Institute in 1991.

Resources

Parsley Health

No more late-night symptom searches or dead-end diagnoses. Parsley Health doctors go beyond symptoms to treat the root cause of your illness and deliver long-term healing.

Rupa Health

We’re bringing root cause medicine to everyone on the planet.

Functional Medicine News

I'm a Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioner and National Board Certified Functional Medicine Health Coach specializing in the gut and how it effects overall health. I help you uncover the contributing factors to your symptoms and work with these healing opportunities to ultimately help you restore your health for the long haul.

Functional Nutrition Alliance

We teach you a systems-based approach to nutrition. Get to the root causes of your clients’ issues, no matter their signs, symptoms or diagnoses, by utilizing our functional nutrition frameworks that WORK.

The Institute for Functional Medicine

We believe health and vitality are essential to the human spirit. IFM's vision is to advance the highest expression of individual health.

Wild Health

Get an in-depth health analysis, a personal care plan, and ongoing, fully customized care - from anywhere.

Functional Medicine Coaching Academy

Founded in 2014 in collaboration with The Institute for Functional Medicine, The Functional Medicine Coaching Academy (FMCA) trains Functional Medicine Health Coaches to partner with clients, collaborate with practitioners, and build a career doing something they love.

National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health

The mission of NCCIH is to determine, through rigorous scientific investigation, the fundamental science, usefulness, and safety of complementary and integrative health approaches and their roles in improving health and health care.

Quantum Functional Medicine

Functional medicine is a systems oriented approach specific to each individual. It involves a partnership of the patient and practitioner to address underlying causes of disease. Functional medicine addresses the whole person with regards to their individual genetics, environmental exposures, life style factors, spiritual, emotional and physical makeup.