What is Integrative Medicine?
Integrating the best of conventional and alternative medicine
Integrative medicine is an emerging branch of medicine that combines alternative and conventional medical care. Preventive therapies like diet, exercise and healthy lifestyle habits form the foundation of integrative medicine. Practitioners emphasize building a partnership with patients to care for the mind, body and spirit.
Integrative medicine embraces alternative approaches to treating illness. Popular examples include herbal remedies, dietary supplements, meditation, breathing exercises, hypnosis, guided imagery, acupuncture, homeopathy, chiropractic or osteopathic manipulation, and massage therapy. And integrative medicine recognizes that conventional therapies—such as surgery, medications, counseling and physical therapy—are preferred, or even required, for treating certain medical conditions.
The growing field of integrative medicine has several distinct traits. It is characterized by health care that:
Incorporates both conventional and alternative therapies
Views health as a state of complete physical, social and mental wellbeing, and not merely the absence of disease
Incorporates a comprehensive understanding of what makes a person healthy that includes physical, mental, emotional, social and spiritual factors
Relies on rigorous science-based evidence
Emphasizes wellness and prevention
Provides individualized and personalized care
Engages patients as partners in their own care
Visualizes health care as a team process with the patient as the key team member
Seeks to help achieve optimal health throughout life
Welcomes family and loved ones who accompany the patient
Our current health care system does not adequately support people through the lifestyle changes required to turn around some illnesses. This is especially true with chronic conditions like high blood pressure, heart disease, weight gain, diabetes and depression. Sadly, the result is that the health care in our country is often expensive, ineffective and impersonal. The good news is that integrative medicine clearly offers an alternative approach that is more prevention-oriented, more patient-centered, and more personal.
Integrative medicine combines alternative and conventional medical care.
This newsletter is for educational purposes only. It is not intended as a substitute for medical advice or treatment; before adhering to any recommendations in this newsletter consult your healthcare provider.