What is Functional Medicine?
Functional Medicine is a personalized approach that uses system-oriented model that empowers patients and practitioners to address underlying causes of disease and promote the highest expression of health.
Functional Medicine determines how and why illness occurs and restores health by addressing the root cause of disease. It is individualized, patient-oriented and science-based.
We need to stop labeling every disease with a name, which is often construed as abnormal condition associated with specific sings and symptoms. Furthermore we have to stop approaching one condition with the same methodology, because it can have different causes and, likewise, one cause may result in different conditions.
Since every person is unique, we have to create an individualized treatment plant to target specific cause of a disease instead of applying “one size fits all” model. Reduction of symptoms isn’t the same as making a person healthy.
More I study Functional Medicine, more I discover about amazing innate abilities of a human body to heal itself. This healing wisdom is a very complex process that involves millions of chemical and physiological interactions that take place every second in every cell of a body. This complex mechanism is kept under control by vital forces. We still have no explanation how this algorithm of perfect collaborations was created and what controls this sophisticated activity.
Nowadays, practitioners are equipped with tools necessary to understand how our organs and systems work, and interact together to maintain this intricate balance. Blood work and advanced functional medical testing are available to “dig deeper” to a root cause of a problem.
In standard primary care setting, ordered labs have very limited number of markers to understand if there is any issue before it becomes a problem. Or if the patient is already symptomatic, incomplete labs won’t show complete picture to understand the extend and cause.
The advantage of Functional Medicine testing removes boundaries what is allowed by standard care. Advanced testing helps to get to the root cause of a problem and construct personalized treatment plan based on bio-individuality of each patient. Meaning two treatment plans for the same “problem” will never be the same.
At Atlant Health NYC we believe in helping patients find optimal health through a personalized approach that sees each patient as a unique interchange of genetics, environment, spirituality and lifestyle. We use systems-oriented approach to find the root cause of disease and facilitate healing by restoring balance bringing mind and body back into alignment. Simply because we care!
Have any questions, please call us (212) 888-0520, or email to atlantchiro@gmail.com
Article by Aleksander Kanevsky, DC, CFMP
