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Functional Medicine in Tucson AZ

Functional Medicine at Tanque Verde Chiropractic Clinic in Tucson, AZ

Would you benefit from functional medicine in Tucson AZ? Functional medicine has drawn a lot of attention lately, but it is not new — it is a system of healing that has been taking shape for hundreds of years.

What to know about functional medicine

01

What Functional Medicine Is

Functional medicine draws on traditional Chinese medicine, western health care and current research, taking what works from each and combining them into a distinct approach to healing. The focus sits on the cause of a disease rather than on its symptoms. Our health care system has drifted, through that focus on symptoms, into being a disease care system; functional medicine is a workable way to reverse that.

To do it, practitioners look at the body as a whole, weighing nutritional, environmental and genetic factors together. The relationship is a conversational one — the word doctor comes from the Latin for teacher, and that is the role a functional medicine practitioner takes, so that you can take control of your own health.

02

Why the Approach Had to Change

The nation’s health has changed a great deal while our health care system has stayed fairly static. The traditional approach worked well against the diseases of 1920 — largely short-lived conditions that responded to a quick fix such as surgery or medication. It has proven far less effective against today’s epidemics of heart disease, cancer, arthritis and diabetes.

Those conditions are considerably more complex than what the system was built for, and complexity on that scale calls for an equally comprehensive response. Where traditional medicine treats the condition, functional medicine treats the individual — considering the genetic, environmental and occupational factors particular to that person, and building nutrition, supplementation and exercise plans around them.

When to seek care for functional medicine in Tucson AZ

Functional medicine tends to help most where the usual approach has run out of road. It is worth a conversation if:

  • You have a chronic condition that is being managed symptom by symptom
  • You have been told your labs are "normal" but you do not feel well
  • Fatigue, digestive trouble or weight changes have persisted without a clear explanation
  • A condition runs in your family and you would rather get ahead of it
  • You want nutrition, supplementation and exercise treated as part of your care, not an afterthought
  • You want to understand what is actually driving your health problem

To learn more about the functional medicine services we offer in Tucson AZ, call Tanque Verde Chiropractic Clinic at (520) 749-2929.

Common questions

With chronic disease increasing, treating a condition only once it has arrived makes less and less sense. Functional medicine often looks at variations in metabolism, both to identify a predisposition toward a condition and to find the underlying cause of one already present.

It also puts the practitioner in the role of teacher. Think about how often a doctor has genuinely educated you about your own condition. You are the one living with it, so your care should be built around you rather than around other people who have had something similar.

And it is one of the few approaches that considers the body as a whole — personal history, genetic makeup, occupation, nutrition and social factors together, because every system in the body depends on the next one working.

Once the cause of a condition has been identified — often with the help of imaging and laboratory testing — practitioners draw on several disciplines to address it. In practice that commonly means a combination of dietary changes, supplements and an exercise program built for you.

Yes. Both start from the same premise: find and correct the cause rather than manage the symptom. At Tanque Verde Chiropractic Clinic in Tucson AZ they are offered together, so your nutrition and your spine are not treated as separate problems.

Serving Tucson and the surrounding area

  • Tanque Verde
  • Catalina Foothills
  • Sabino Canyon
  • Rita Ranch
  • Vail
  • Oro Valley
  • Marana

Related care

There is no risk to see what we can do for you

New patients receive a consultation and exam for $65 — Excludes any treatments.

New Patient SpecialCall (520) 749-2929