The Functional Medicine Tree & its Principles | Functional Chiropractor

Do you believe that taking pills doesn’t solve the underlying issue, and do you want to work with a practitioner who believes in the same manner? Fortunately, an increasing number of clinicians are practicing functional medicine.

What is functional medicine?

Functional medicine is an evidence-based clinical strategy that addresses the environmental effects and ailments that underlie disorder, with the concept that when those are treated, the body can return to its normal state of health and equilibrium. The content delves into the guiding principles and approach of FM, to help you determine whether dealing with a functional medicine practitioner is what you want on your journey toward healing and maintaining health.

Principles of Functional Medicine

The Textbook of Functional Medicine defines FM because the “prevention, early assessment, and enhanced management of complex, chronic disorder by intervening at multiple levels to fix heart health imbalances and thus restore each patient’s functionality and health to the greatest extent possible.” FM is based on six core principles:

• Recognizing the individuality and genetic uniqueness of every human being
• Supporting a holistic, patient-centered–rather than disease-centered–approach to treatment
• Trying to Find a dynamic equilibrium between body, mind, and soul
• Acknowledging the interconnectedness of all inner body functions
• Seeing health as a positive vitality–not just the absence of disease
• Striving to Improve the health span, not just the life span, of every patient

Strategy: The Functional Medicine Tree

A FM practitioner behaves as a detective, exploring the clinical imbalances that provide rise to a symptoms, then delving into the root causes–environmental factors and genetic trends that affect your well-being. This model can be compared to a tree, imbalances are represented by the back, where the symptoms are represented by the leaves, and the roots will be the dispositions.

The Leaves: Symptoms

Your symptoms are equal into the leaves of a shrub: highly visible and a significant indication of your underlying health. FM professionals use symptoms as guides to better comprehend the underlying ailments, rather than focusing on treating symptoms directly (which can be vital, but not the ultimate goal).

The Trunk: Clinical Imbalances

Like a tree trunk branching into leaves, systemic ailments develop into symptoms. FM practitioners thoroughly explore possible imbalances to gain a view. In FM, imbalances are categorized within the following systems and processes:

• The nervous and hormonal system
• The process of altering food, atmosphere, and water to energy
• The procedure for detoxifying and removing waste
• The immune system and inflammatory response
• Digestive system
• Structures – from the cellular to musculoskeletal level

A condition as simple as chronic headaches can point to an imbalance in one or many of these types, and it is the responsibility of an FM practitioner to determine what procedure or process is not optimally functioning.

The Roots: The Environment and Genetic Disposition

Environmental inputs and your genetic disposition are similar to the origins of a tree: they give rise to clinical imbalances, which then become symptoms.

Environment. Lifestyle options and toxic exposures can influence your health. The effects may not appear straight away, because your body is more resilient, but might collect with time and finally cause a condition. To determine medical imbalances’ root, an FM practitioner may ask questions like:

• Have you been getting the right nutrients and exercise?
• Are you exposed to toxic substances or radiation?
• Would you possibly have parasites (it is more common than you think!) ?
• Do you have allergies?
• Have you undergone injury?
• Do you have a healthy support network?

Genetic Disposition. Environmental variables are filtered through your genetic (physical, mental, and psychological) tendencies. Your perspectives, beliefs, and also the special way your body and brain process inputs can affect your susceptibility to certain conditions that are developing. Changing your perception of a circumstance, processing a traumatic memory, or learning how to better handle stress can go a long way on your recovery.

The functional medicine approach involves investigating every aspect that may be influencing your wellness and enabling you to have an active part in your healing. Rather than giving you drugs so that you can fully heal from the ground up, the objective is to dig into the root of the problem.

The scope of our information is limited to chiropractic and spinal injuries and conditions. To discuss options on the subject matter, please feel free to ask Dr. Jimenez or contact us at 915-850-0900 . 

By Dr. Alex Jimenez

Additional Topics: Wellness

Overall health and wellness are essential towards maintaining the proper mental and physical balance in the body. From eating a balanced nutrition as well as exercising and participating in physical activities, to sleeping a healthy amount of time on a regular basis, following the best health and wellness tips can ultimately help maintain overall well-being. Eating plenty of fruits and vegetables can go a long way towards helping people become healthy.

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