The gap between emerging research in basic sciences and integration of new knowledge into clinical practice is often astonishingly large–particularly in the area of complex, chronic illness. This is one of the reasons that today’s healthcare providers are not adequately trained to manage the increasing burden of complex, chronic disease.
The 20th century took on–and, to a great extent mastered–the challenges of providing health care for acute conditions (injury and life-threatening illness). Knowledge and technology grew apace, and so did costs; measures no one thought possible 100 years ago have become readily available.
Organ transplants, re-attachment of severed limbs, life-support systems, new drugs, infection control procedures, laparoscopic explorations and surgeries–the list is extensive. But at the same time that our healthcare system was becoming dependent on advances in acute care, other influences were superseding acute conditions as the greatest threats to American health:
- increasingly stressful and sedentary lifestyles,
- industrial pollution of air, water, and earth
- leading to devitalized (and sometimes dangerous) food,
- overconsumption (rising rates of obesity) but undernutrition,
- and fragmented family and community ties
These influences have helped to create an overwhelming burden of chronic disease that we do not yet train our healthcare providers to treat or prevent effectively, among other contributing factors.
Disease prevention has too often been conceptualized as immunization and early diagnosis, an approach that is far too limited. Effective prevention of chronic disease today requires understanding individual genetic vulnerabilities (20-30% of chronic disease risk) and the effect of lifestyle upon those individual variations (70-80% of the risk).
Physicians highly trained primarily in conventional diagnosis and treatment (drugs, surgery, radiation) are not well qualified to apply prevention-focused interventions such as nutrition, diet, and exercise to help patients minimize their risk of suffering from one or more of the major chronic diseases in America (heart disease, diabetes, autoimmune disease, mental illness, and cancer).
In addition to prevention strategies, many complex, chronic diseases are very responsive to dietary and various lifestyle interventions. But clinicians without these skills are literally at the mercy of the pharmaceutical industry.
Doctors are taught about drugs by agents of the pharmaceutical industry, which works hard to persuade them to select the newest and most expensive medications — even in the absence of scientific evidence that they are any better than older, less costly ones, even in the presence of evidence that many non-drug interventions are therapeutically effective and significantly less expensive.
At Bodhi, We Change Lives with a functional medicine approach. We do that by focusing on the causes of disease rather than just the symptoms.
No matter what condition or disease you are battling in your life, we are confident can help you feel well again. Contact us today to book a consultation or call us at 1.888.271.8877 to discuss your wellness.
Be well!
PS – If you missed Part 1 of our series on Functional Medicine, be sure to read Why Functional Medicine and/or Part II Importance of Improving Management of Complex, Chronic Disease.
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