History and Models of Care
Historically, medicine has not really produced an efficient method for identifying and assessing changes in basic physiological processes. We know that such alterations in function often result in the first signs of conditions that, at a later stage, become pathophysiologically definable diseases - which is why it is critical to identify and correct such imbalances.
In practicing functional medicine, we seek to understand the root cause of diseases and this becomes the science and art of detecting and reversing these alterations that clearly move a patient toward chronic disease over the course of a lifetime. Thus, with functional medicine, we begin to define a model of patient care that seeks to identify underlying chronic dysfunctions associated with altered physiological processes and to maximize functionality at all levels of body, mind, and spirit.
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