Functional Medicine is not a replacement for traditional Family Medicine. It encompasses and is a deep dive into what Family Medicine is and has always been. As in traditional Family Medicine, Functional Medicine practitioner looks closely at the myriad interactions among genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors that can influence long-term health and complex, chronic disease. A major premise of Functional Medicine is that with science, clinical wisdom, and a deep empathy for the patient, many of the underlying causes of chronic disease can be identified and interventions to remediate those causes can be addressed earlier and more effectively. The modalities that Functional Medicine uses always start with the foundational lifestyle factors of diet, rest, relationships, stress, movement, and exercise. The modalities taught in Functional Medicine are all focused on safety and efficacy with a deep underpinning in the peer-reviewed literature. In fact, Functional Medicine relies on and uses evidence-based medicine as originally conceived, which was to combine peer-reviewed clinical evidence, the clinical expertise of the physician, and patient motivations and preferences. These are all in alignment with traditional Family Medicine.
