Functional medicine is an alternative form of healthcare, having an extremely holistic and personal approach for rehabilitation. It focuses on the entirety of the patient’s medical history, lifestyle, and diet. Functional medicine treats a wide-range of conditions and identifies the root causes for health complications. Many of these doctors develop an in-depth relationship with their patients which traditional clinics often overlook. And unlike traditional healthcare clinics, functional medicine identifies why patients have a particular condition, and not just treating what it is.

Nutrition and supplementation are central components of this process. Functional medicine emphasizes the influences that dietary and medical intake has on the body. A long-term healthcare plan can be expected to correct poor diets and nutritional deficiencies. As a result, many functional medicine practitioners are not only physicians, but nutritionists and dietitians as well.