Integrative Medicine in Encinitas
What Is Integrative Medicine?
Integrative medicine is a patient-focused, whole-person medical practice that uses treatments that are both evidence based and experience based. Integrative medicine incorporates a variety of disciplines, including alternative and standard Western medical treatments, to provide safe, effective healthcare.
Practitioners of integrative medicine see patients as partners and work closely with you to ensure you're getting the treatments you need. Integrative medicine addresses many factors, including the physical, emotional, social, spiritual, and environmental influences that impact a person's health status.
Along with offering treatments that attend to immediate health concerns, integrative medicine focuses on the broader concepts of health (including living a healthy lifestyle) that promote a person's total health and well-being presently and in the future.
What It Entails
Integrative medicine places an emphasis on the practitioner-patient relationship and is based on a model of focusing on health and wellness, rather than a model of disease. By customizing care for each patient, integrative medicine treats more than just the symptoms.
Together, you and your doctor address the causes of an illness, including biological, psychosocial, environmental, and behavioral aspects, in addition to prevention. The integrative medicine approach addresses your immediate health needs along with the other variables that influence your long-term health and well-being.
Practitioners of integrative medicine incorporate the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies in addition to conventional treatments. CAM therapies are only used if proven to be effective, safe, and appropriate for an individual's specific health status.
Evidence-based CAM therapies often used with traditional medical care include:
- Acupuncture
- Functional medicine
- Guided imagery
- Hypnotherapy
- Mindfulness
- Natural supplements
- Therapeutic massage
- Yoga
During your first visit with an integrative medicine practitioner, your health background will be reviewed, and you'll examine the root causes of your ailment to better understand how emotional, physical, social, spiritual, and environmental elements may be contributing to your health problems.
You will work closely with the practitioner to develop a tailored wellness strategy based on your immediate health needs. You will also be encouraged to establish healthy habits and self-care skills you can apply throughout your life to satisfy and maintain your long-term health goals.
Integrative medicine doesn't replace the care you receive from your primary physician. Instead, it complements existing treatments prescribed by your primary care and specialty providers. Once you've met with an integrative medicine practitioner, they will send your primary provider a summary of your visit and a list of therapies recommended.
In some cases, an integrative specialist might be a primary provider, depending on their professional training and the licensing requirements of the jurisdiction.
Any suggested natural remedies and complementary therapies included in your personalized wellness strategy should not interfere with any traditional medications you've been prescribed. They instead are meant to maximize your body's potential for healing along with any other treatments you are receiving.
Integrative medicine encourages people to take responsibility for their health and well-being when working in collaboration with their healthcare professionals and on their own.
If you are interested in receiving integrated medical care, contact your insurance provider to determine which expenses will be covered. Some insurance providers do not cover the complementary and alternative treatments that are used in integrative medicine, while others cover certain treatments, such as acupuncture and some mind-body therapies.
Types of Integrative Medicine Professionals
Integrative medicine specialists include professionals of many disciplines-- medical doctors, nurse practitioners, doctors of osteopathic medicine, naturopaths, chiropractors, mental health professionals, mind-body specialists, massage therapists, and practitioners of complementary therapies such as reiki and acupuncture.
The academic and accreditation criteria for these professions vary widely, as does the regulation of these specialties.
If you are looking for an integrative medicine practitioner, look for someone that is fully accredited in their specialty and straightforward about their experiences and belief system. For instance, do they believe in the mind-body-spirit connection that underlies the base of integrative medicine?
Good integrative medicine specialists see their patients not only as partners, but are also willing to work collaboratively with other healthcare professionals responsible for your care.
Part of what makes integrative medicine so special is the sharing of information amongst healthcare professionals that are attending to the needs of each individual. Research shows that interprofessional collaboration can improve patient outcomes.
Integrative Medicine in Encinitas
Integrative medicine therapies are used to treat several health conditions and diseases, including:
- Anxiety
- Arthritis
- Cancer
- Chronic pain
- Depression
- Diabetes
- Fibromyalgia
- Headache/migraine
- Heart disease
- Hypertension
- Infertility
- Irritable bowel syndrome
- Menopause
- Multiple sclerosis
- PTSD
Integrative medicine is growing in popularity in healthcare settings throughout the United States, as more people are interested in more holistic, individualized approaches to recovery. Several hospitals have been trialing integrative medicine programs and investigating the impact integrative medicine has on patient care.
A number of reviews and clinical studies have shown positive outcomes for patients and providers that participate in integrative medicine programs.
Researchers are discovering the benefits of integrative medicine for a number of conditions and situations, including pain management, symptom relief for cancer patients and survivors, and also programs that promote healthy behaviors to maintain long-lasting health.
History
People have practiced medicine throughout the world for thousands of years. History shows us that new medical interventions have commonly been a blend of old traditions with advancements in societies worldwide. In that way, integrative medicine has informally been practiced by people for many years.
Some professionals more formally adopted integrative medicine in the early 1990s. In 1994, the University of Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine was founded, with a primary focus on educating medical professionals in integrative medicine.
The Academic Collaborative for Integrative Health was established in 2004 to promote policies and action to advance integrated medical care throughout the United States. Today, integrative medicine is a globally recognized movement in medicine.
Dr. LaBeau has a nutritionally based Family Practice enjoying working with families and patients of all ages. As an Osteopathic Physician he finds that many of his patient’s health concerns are also affected by compromised circulation due to musculoskeletal malalignments. This total health approach of considering both body and chemistry allows him to treat the cause of a patient’s problem which renders more effective overall healing.
For further information about Dr. LaBeau’s practice and Integrative Medicine in Encinitas see drlabeau.com
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