What does integrative medicine mean?

Sometimes I think the biggest barrier to making integrative medicine more accessible is a lack of understanding by traditional doctors or the general public of what integrative means.

Integrative medicine is the combination of conventional medicine alongside evidence based lifestyle, functional and holistic approaches. It attempts to restore the focus of medicine on health and wellness, prevention and finding the root cause and away from a reductionist view of medicine – symptom and disease, pharmaceutical drugs and surgical intervention. 

Integrative medicine is a more patient centred approach and takes into account that a person is not merely a body, but each individual has different backgrounds, beliefs and lifestyles therefore treatment options should be personalised to each person. We always aim to treat the whole person, to restore balance within the body and build resilience against future disease.

Integrative medicine looks to empower patients by offering diversity, choice and treatment methods that fit the individual. By combining more than one approach to medicine, integrative healthcare offers a variety of methods to support mind, body and spirit which we know are intricately connected within health.

Integrative healthcare does not shy away from the use of conventional medicines when appropriate. But instead we look at all approaches to medicine when treating an individual, which might not necessarily be holistic therapies used in conventional medicine or traditionally taught to doctors. Our aim is that this is all brought under one umbrella, which hopefully, one day, will just be called ‘medicine’.

If this sounds like a better, more sustainable model of healthcare and you’d like to learn more please get in touch.

We offer clinical appointments with our Integrative healthcare professionals, a variety of educational programmes, webinars and conferences for healthcare professionals, a membership programme for those interested in integrative healthcare and outreach programmes within our local communities as we strongly believe integrative healthcare should be accessible to all.

Do you see integrative medicine shaping the future of healthcare?