The art of functional medicine involves looking at a patient as a whole person. This basically allows a practitioner to evaluate a focal problem and create a list of several different issues that can lead to that specific problem. A good example is the patient with knee pain. A conventional practitioner will focus mainly on the knee, examining the knee and even imaging the knee to focus on what pathology might be present within the joint. However, a functional medicine practitioner will evaluate the lumbar spine, hips, ankles and feet, as well as the knee, to see if there is an issue elsewhere that is causing secondary knee pain. Quite often, altered biomechanics from one small problem can lead to a domino effect of symptoms, which can be very difficult to diagnose if your provider is not thinking from a global perspective.

Functional medicine providers are some of the most advanced thought leaders in all of medicine. In having the ability to look at the bigger picture, more accurate diagnoses are made and a more wide variety of treatment options can be pursued.