The area of functional medicine is an emerging area. It is probably in the storming or forming stages of establishment and development as it rubs up against conventional medicine and it remains to be seen how the two can co-exist.

I like this definition:

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.

ifm.org

This approach makes much more sense to me in terms of trying to avoid disease rather than waiting to be affected and then trying to deal with the disease once it has taken hold.

But how is if different to conventional medicine?

It’s very different and it requires a different mindset and approach. This is not a competition between the left and right hand sides. I see them as complementary approaches where the conventional approach works very well for the reactive acute type injuries, infections and time sensitive life savings operations. The functional side on the right is more suited to the proactive preventative approach that aims to reduce the likelihood of ever needing the conventional approach in the first place.

Both sides have a key role to play in the future state of healthcare worldwide.

Yours in health and happiness,

JP