Health and wellness are more than simply the absence of disease; it’s health-improving behaviors to achieve your fullest potential.
However, it’s not easy to stay healthy due to the challenges presented by busy lifestyles and unhealthy habits. You can achieve optimum wellness by eating right, exercising regularly, getting adequate sleep, and finding the right healthcare provider to help you prevent or manage existing health problems.
There’s a strong emphasis on staying healthy nowadays, especially with the ongoing pandemic. Patients often report suffering from a variety of diseases but, sometimes, their illnesses are associated with more than one issue.
In these cases, the underlying cause(s) may not be easily determined. As such, a multi-pronged approach is usually recommended in the treatment of patients with more than one ailment. Traditional medicine usually addresses the symptoms of the disease but rarely addresses the underlying cause.
With new methods of treatment arising every day, many physicians are choosing to incorporate new approaches to healthcare delivery. Integrative medicine (IM), in contrast to primary care or hospital medicine, considers all the components of a lifestyle to be significant contributors to an illness.
Also known as a comprehensive treatment, integrative medicine practitioners believe that the medical treatment has to go beyond the disease/ills to address the individual’s whole health. It combines the best of traditional medicine and modern medical practices. Read on to know more about integrative medicine and its benefits.
Understanding Integrative Medicine
Integrative Medicine is an approach to healthcare that considers the whole spectrum of human health and puts the patient in the middle. The goals of integrative medicine are to promote general health, prevent disease, and improve one’s quality of life.
It can be used to help manage or reduce symptoms associated with diseases and chronic conditions, and can even assist with the diagnosis and treatment of these diseases. The main focus of integrative medicine is to promote health by focusing on the whole person. Because of this, it is sometimes called “holistic medicine”.
Many integrative practitioners who provide healthcare services believe that the key to healing lies in dealing with the cause of the disease rather than treating symptoms. This way, the whole person is being healed rather than being treated for symptoms.
Integrative medicine practitioners may use the word “complementary” to indicate that they add something extra to conventional medicine to help enhance or supplement the service given. It also recognizes the vital role of diet and lifestyle changes. There are facilities like Rose Wellness that offer a wide variety of services to help you get personalized medicine for yourself and the entire family.
Integrative Medicine Vs. Traditional Medicine
To better understand integrative medicine, it’s essential to understand what differentiates it from traditional medicine.
Goals And Objectives
Integrative medicine aims to treat the whole person and considers wellness as part of the patient’s whole healthcare philosophy. Doctors practicing integrative medicine encourage patients to think differently about their bodies and health.
Unlike the traditional medical approach, integrative medicine attempts to help the body’s natural defenses to develop a stronger resistance to illness and disease. This treatment plan focuses on identifying the root causes of the disease, to treat the ailment at its source.
It tries to improve the immune system of the patient so it can fight off any viruses or bacteria that may become resistant to current medications. The primary goal of integrative medicine is to achieve balance in mind, body, and spirit.
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Practices And Modalities
Patients who have undergone traditional medical treatment are more likely to be prescribed medications and are prescribed more often than those who have tried integrative medicine. Traditional medicine places a strong emphasis on using drugs to treat any ailment, and it does not consider alternative treatments that may be able to strengthen the body’s defenses.
Unlike traditional healthcare providers, integrative medicine practitioners encourage their patients to take responsibility for their health and to work with their doctors to ensure that a complete, whole-person wellness program is included in their healthcare plan.
Doctors who are practicing integrative medicine are committed to using complementary and alternative treatments along with modern medical treatments to promote overall wellness. Integrative healthcare encompasses a range of practices that work together to promote wellness.
There is a wide array of alternative therapies that are scientifically validated and used in integrative medicine. Therapies that fall into this category include such therapies as acupuncture, aromatherapy, Ayurveda, Chinese medicine, chiropractic, homeopathy, hypnotherapy, hydrotherapy, meditation and relaxation techniques, naturopathy, and even traditional herbal medicine.
Patients are becoming more aware of the benefits of integrating these modalities for their healthcare needs. Acupuncture and massage treatments, together with traditional medications, may be effective in treating back pain. Similarly, studies have found that massage and acupuncture treatments are equally effective in treating asthma and other respiratory conditions, as well as depression, anxiety, and stress.
Many practitioners employ an all-natural approach, believing that the body can heal itself through its natural defenses. Some of these alternative medical care methods have been proven to help patients manage and alleviate health problems, but it should also be noted that the success of any treatment depends upon the individual’s unique medical condition.
Hence, the right kind of treatment must be used depending on the condition of the patient. Fortunately, a good integrative medicine doctor or practitioner will be well-versed in these various approaches and able to recommend the best course of action.
Is Integrative Medicine Right For You?
The goal of integrative medicine and complementary medicine is to use modern drugs, natural therapies, exercise, diet, supplements, stress management, and lifestyle counseling to address the primary causes of an illness rather than the symptomatic manifestations.
People often get comfortable with conventional medicine and assume that they know what it takes to maintain good health. The truth is that most conventional medical treatments only make use of a small portion of your overall well-being. When you receive holistic care, you can experience entire body wellness including mental health, physical health, and emotional health.
