Functional Medicine and Nutrition

What is Functional Medicine?

Functional Medicine is a systems-based approach that focuses on identifying and addressing the root cause of disease. Functional Medicine practitioners rely on laboratory analysis to find natural solutions to health problems. Conventional medicine is oriented towards acute care that looks at the symptoms, makes a diagnosis, and will generally provide a medication known to reduce those symptoms. Functional medicine is a personalized medicine approach that looks at the bigger picture of your overall physiological function. At Miami Spine and Performance we work to test and evaluate your health to determine the best path of care.

What does a Functional Medicine consultation look like?

We begin this process by performing a thorough clinical assessment and evaluation of your health concerns. We will talk with you in-depth, listen to your concerns, and learn about your background during our visits. We discuss your current health status and carefully assess lifestyle factors as they relate to sleep, nutrition, exercise, and stress management. In Functional Medicine, we find that each symptom or differential diagnosis may be one of many contributing to an individual’s illness. Our alternative medicine approach aims to target the specific manifestations of disease in each individual.

What makes Functional Medicine different from other healthcare approaches?

Your medical history, physical exam findings, and laboratory findings guide our clinical decisions to appropriately tackle your concerns while making your health goals our priority. We use comprehensive diagnostic testing in order to gain a deeper understanding of your body’s individual biochemistry to personalize our treatment to your body’s needs. By addressing the root cause of the disease instead of only alleviating your symptoms, we can understand the full complexity of your illness and begin to treat it.

Functional medicine is far from a “cookie-cutter approach”. Every Functional Medicine patient in our clinic receives a personalized treatment plan and an in-depth understanding of the significance of their labs as it pertains to their symptoms, body systems, and health goals. Education is a key factor in our approach to alternative care because it puts the patient in the driver seat of their treatment. We often hear patients say things like “my doctor never called me with my test results, I assume everything is ok” or “my doctor called and said everything was normal”. Our office takes blood, saliva, and stool laboratory review of findings to the next level. We want our patients to come out of each visit with a clear understanding of their laboratory results. We take the time to review each maker with you to help you understand how we will leverage this information with the use of natural medicine to address their symptoms.

What are my treatment options?

In Functional Medicine, treatment focuses on natural health strategies that include dietary counseling, exercise, lifestyle modification, physical medicine, and mild therapeutic supplementation. We will educate you and together we will plan the best path to make appropriate changes that are paced for your abilities and needs. Our goal is to help you find what is causing your symptoms and equip you with the knowledge and tools you need to live a healthy pain-free life. We look forward to helping you on your journey to better health.