Functional Medicine Doctor · Orange County
Functional medicine goes beyond the usual medical approach.
A Refreshing Approach
Functional medicine in Orange County, California, takes a unique approach to healthcare that considers the patient as a whole person. It looks to prevent issues, identify and address their root causes, and make use of non-operative orthopedic therapies to promote healing.
When a healthy-looking, active person goes to the doctor, it can be challenging for the doctor not to assume they’re perfectly fine because they look fit, exercise regularly, and eat well. Traditional medicine primarily deals with immediate problems and doesn’t dig deep into what might affect the patient’s performance and potential. Functional medicine aims to help people achieve peak performance by uncovering and resolving underlying health limitations. We do this by following these three main steps:
1. We Listen:
Your functional medicine doctor needs to ask many questions to understand where your issue is coming from. Many health problems are complex and require a deep investigation to find their source. Once we determine what’s causing the issue, we can focus on fixing it.
Our approach starts with an initial conversation. We learn about your athletic activities, how you train, how you recover, your sleep, your diet, your nutrition, your lifestyle, and how your body systems, such as the heart, lungs, digestion, and immune system, are doing.
2. We Test:
After the initial assessment, we recommend advanced lab testing. These lab tests are necessary to our program, as we believe in “testing instead of guessing.” Functional laboratory testing and evaluation are critical in gaining a more comprehensive understanding of how your body functions.
3. We Support:
Athletes often push their bodies to the limit, leading to injuries and long recovery times. Functional medicine can significantly impact an athlete’s performance and injury recovery because it takes a whole-body, whole-person approach. Instead of treating the symptoms with medications, functional medicine addresses the root causes of health issues, thereby supporting the body to heal and recover itself.
OC Sports and Wellness uses functional medicine to help athletes recover and avoid injuries:
- Nutrition: We use advanced tests to see if athletes lack certain nutrients or have imbalances in their diet. By fixing these problems and giving personalized nutrition advice, functional medicine can help the body heal itself. In this way, eating the right foods becomes vital for recovery.
- Hormones: Functional medicine examines how hormones work in the body and tries to improve their function. Because hormones can affect how well athletes recover, functional medicine may involve hormone treatments to help athletes recover faster.
- Gut Health: A balanced gut can help the immune system and reduce inflammation. It is crucial for overall health and recovery. By fixing gut problems, functional medicine supports the body’s healing, which helps prevent future injuries.
- Personalized Plans: Each athlete has a unique body, genes, and lifestyle, which makes it vital to create an individual plan for each athlete’s needs. Functional medicine can help athletes recover and avoid injuries by tailoring treatments to the individual.
- Integrative Therapies: Functional medicine uses a variety of treatments to help with recovery and prevent injuries. These therapies can help athletes recover faster and perform better.