Visiting a doctor’s office is not something people usually enjoy for a variety of reasons, right? Still, this is necessary for us to be in the best possible health. A vast majority of us don’t know basically anything about medicine. That’s why it is likely that these visits can make us feel puzzled.
Just think about how many times you believed you have a certain health problem, but the doctor provides you with a completely different diagnosis. Naturally, there are many different branches of medicine. So, there’s no way for anyone to know all about each one of them. It is simply impossible.
For that reason, doctors specialize in certain fields. What needs to be said is there are many forms of alternative medicine to take a look at, like integrative and functional medicine. Today, we want to provide you with an insight into both of these concepts. Let’s take a look at these two.
Integrative Medicine
Integrative medicine, as its name is saying, is a concept that focuses on the complete well-being of the patient. Basically, it takes a look at the lifestyle of the person and seeks the potential problems. By seeking them out, the doctor would start implementing various therapies to remove these issues.
However, these sources of problems are not only physical, they can even include mental issues. That doesn’t mean that the doctors who practice integrative medicine don’t use modern technologies and practices to find these problems. Still, they consider the doctor-patient conversations equally vital.
Sometimes, these conversations can tell a lot about these problems. The physicians need to have a full understanding of the patient’s emotional and environmental factors. Sometimes, they can indicate the potential problem. For instance, fitting into society can be the source of the problem.
Resolving these problems cannot be done solely by using usual practices. Instead, the treatment can include some alternative practices like acupuncture, massage, yoga, and many more. According to reports on the integration concept, people with diabetes and obesity can expect a significant result.
Functional Medicine
The next concept we want to discuss, functional medicine shares some similarities with the previous one. However, it has more than enough dissimilarities for it to stand alone. The best way to describe this approach is that it is system-oriented. Some even address it as the personalization of healthcare.
The reason is quite simple, there’s no magic formula for resolving a certain condition. Instead, the physicians will focus on each case, and they will invest their best efforts to understand the person completely before conducting any therapy. Each case you come across is literally unique.
The relationship between these two sides becomes nothing short of a partnership. Both parties go through all the problems together. That way, the physician will have a deep understanding of the patient. For example, the biochemical individuality of a patient can be the source of a disease.
Due to this unique approach, this concept has become quite popular these days. Some would even say that this personalized approach is one of the major trends in the future of medicine. If you require these services, then you should visit Functional Medicine Doctor Toronto.
What are the Differences?
Now, we want to take a look at the difference between these two concepts. There’s practically only one difference between these two. Integrate medicine strives to provide answers to questions about what and how. On the other side, functional medicine answers the question of why is something happening.
Many would say that making a choice on which one of these you will opt for should be based solely on your own needs and preferences. The problem with this approach is that people usually don’t know anything about medicine, as we’ve already stated. So, making this choice is not easy to do.
Sure, you can research these two concepts and come across some sort of solution. Thankfully, there are a lot of sources you can find online since both of these approaches are quite popular these days. Still, be careful enough not to choose the option that doesn’t suit you.
There’s always a chance that the clues you come across can be a little bit misleading. We feel that the best approach is to talk with someone who has experience in both of these fields. That way, you can understand the personal experience of someone who knows both of these.
Other Approaches to Consider
Holistic medicine is an approach that considers the whole body when establishing the diagnosis for a certain problem. Those who practice it believe that all these factors are interconnected, and cannot be left out of the final report. Because of this approach, is similar to the functional approach.
Also, this is a method that includes a lot of different methods like sound therapy, which is something many people wouldn’t think about initially. Therapies like these don’t have any influence on the patient or help the person’s health. Still, the reports point out all the benefits of this approach.
Natural medicine is probably the most widespread method these days even though it may not look like that. The name of this method is as clear as it can be. Every therapy conducted is based solely on the natural approach, by using only natural ingredients to treat all the problems that can pop up.
Many people do not really understand that this is a significant percentage of the mainstream medicinal industry. For instance, aspirin is completely made of natural ingredients, from the willow tree. The same can be said about digitalis, the medication that’s used for improving the heart condition.
In Conclusion
We all know that keeping our health at the highest possible level is a tricky topic. Even though it may seem like being healthy is something easy, believe us, it is not. In this article of ours, we’ve provided you with an insight into two popular approaches, integrative and functional medicine.
We are certain that this is an insight that would provide you with a great understanding of these, which will make your future choice much simpler in the future.
