What is functional medicine?
First, let’s start by defining the type of medicine most familiar to people. Conventional medicine involves physicians treating symptoms and diseases using over-the-counter and prescription drugs, surgery, radiation and other means. You’ve probably also heard it called Western or traditional medicine.
Functional medicine, on the other hand, seeks to determine how and why disease, illness and pain are occurring, and practitioners strive to restore health by optimizing a patient’s body and organs. It is an evidence-based, holistic approach to medical care that identifies the root causes of sickness or pain, and treats the whole patient rather than just that individual’s symptoms, according to the Institute for Functional Medicine.
Join functional medicine physician, Carol L. Roberts, MD, ABIHM to hear more about what functional medicine is and how it can help you!