What is Integrative Medicine? – A Short Account

Integrative Medicine Tips

Integrative medicine is a modern approach towards the diagnosis and the treatment of illnesses that looks not only at the symptoms described by the patient, but takes into account the patient’s personality and environment as well and proposes to address all the emotional, social and spiritual influences that affect the patient during the treatment. The medical approach is called integrative not only because it integrates all the influences experienced by the person to be treated, but also because it integrates the wealth of knowledge accumulated by traditional medicine and the achievements of naturist therapy – integrative medicine uses medications, even surgery, just like traditional medicine, but it also uses herbal remedies, psychotherapy and a treatment approach based on changes in lifestyle.

The Special Relationship between Doctor and Patient – the Foundation of Successful Treatment

Integrative medicine perceives illness in a way that is radically different from the traditional approach. Illness for IM is a condition caused by complex processes that involve more than the inefficient functioning or failure of a specific organ. The symptoms described by the patient can be linked to a specific organ, but in most cases, they are the results of influences coming from various areas of the patient’s life, they can be caused by emotional or lifestyle-related issues as much as by hereditary issues and others and is best treated by a functional medicine Denver doctor.

The diagnostic and the treatment processes used by IM take into consideration the body, the mind, the soul as well as the social circumstances that surround the patient. To be able to do this, IM considers the patient an active partner in the healing process – a partner who is not just passively receiving medication and waiting for the medication to take effect, but who implements practical changes in their own life.

The Methods Used and the Conditions Treatable with the Integrative Medical Approach

Integrative medicine uses medication, even surgery the same way as they are used by mainstream medicine, but it adds solutions of its own, complementing the treatment process with the use of massage, yoga, acupuncture, meditation or nutrition counseling. The list of the condition that can be treated with the integrative approach is very long – here are some of the illnesses that can be efficiently tackled with IM:

  • Depression – the complex diagnostic phase aimed at revealing the triggers and the root cause is usually followed by a program based on meditation, yoga, massage therapy and lifestyle changes;
  • Asthma – efficiently treated by IM with massage therapy and acupuncture;
  • Fibromyalgia – the treatment offered by conventional medicine can address only the symptoms, while IM tries successfully to reveal the root causes and to eliminate them;
  • Illnesses of the digestive tract, such as celiac disease, Crohn’s disease and irritable bowel syndrome – the holistic approach allows the specialist to make lifestyle-related recommendations that will ameliorate or even completely cure the symptoms;
  • Conditions related to chronic inflammations in the body, such as rheumatoid arthritis,
  • Chronic problems of the joints and bones, such as sciatica, osteoarthritis, carpal tunnel syndrome or bursitis;
  • Obesity and other, diet-related issues.