Ever since I opened up my practice at Heartwood, people have asked, “What exactly is Integrative Medicine?” To help answer that question, here are the 8 Defining Principles of Integrative Medicine taken from the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine website:

1. Patient and practitioner are partners in the healing process.
2. All factors that influence health, wellness, and disease are taken into consideration, including mind, sprit, and community, as well as the body.
3. Appropriate use of both conventional and alternative methods facilitates the body’s innate healing response.
4. Effective interventions are that natural and less invasive should be used whenever possible.
5. Integrative medicine neither rejects conventional medicine nor accepts alternative therapies uncritically.
6. Good medicine is based in good science.  It is inquiry-driven and open to new paradigms.
7. Alongside the concept of treatment, the broader concepts of health promotion and the prevention of illness are paramount.
8. Practitioners of integrative medicine should exemplify its principles and commit themselves to self-exploration and self-development.

Here are reasons why I went into the field of Integrative Medicine

1. I wanted to spend more time getting to know a patient as a whole by discussing not just their basic medical history but going further in depth by examining their diet/nutrition, sleep, lifestyle factors such as exercise, stress, spirituality, all of which contribute to a patient’s health and well-being.
2. I wanted to learn about and offer patients more natural tools for healing. These include nutritional therapy, supplements, botanicals/herbals, whole systems medicine such as Ayurvedic medicine, and mind-body therapies.
3. I wanted to collaborate with other practitioners – such as acupuncturists, massage therapists, exercise therapists, psychotherapists, chiropractors, naturopaths – who each have their own area of expertise but who share a common goal in helping people feel better and be well.

Please join me on Thursday, May 15 from 6:30-8pm at Heartwood.  My colleague Dr. Vesna Skul will be discussing some of the supplements that we use in Integrative Medicine.  (Click here for more information).  I look forward to having more discussions on other topics in Integrative Medicine with you throughout the year at Heartwood.