Integrative healthcare takes a whole-person approach to managing health and well-being. It utilizes a combination of therapies and services designed to achieve optimal healing and can be an effective way to help keep you healthy and active as you get older, especially if you suffer from a chronic disease or pain.

How Can Integrative Wellness Help with Chronic Pain?

Chronic pain is categorized as pain that continues for longer than 12 weeks despite the use of medication or other treatments. Although chronic pain can occur following an injury or surgery, sometimes it can also result for no clear reason. It can affect people of all ages but is more common in older adults. Living with chronic pain can influence all areas of life and lead to poor quality of life if left untreated.

If you live with chronic pain, this is where integrative wellness can help. Integrative medicine focuses on identifying and addressing the root cause of the problem, rather than masking the symptoms with the use of potentially addictive pain medications or invasive treatments. It takes a personalized approach to treatment and utilizes a variety of methods, including nutraceuticals and diet and lifestyle changes, to optimize physical, emotional, and spiritual health and help you have an improved quality of life.

What Can I Expect at My Appointment?

At your initial consultation, your integrative wellness practitioner will first evaluate your personal and family health history, lifestyle, and symptoms and will take the time to listen to your concerns in order to diagnose and treat the core of your illness. Your practitioner may also recommend functional medicine testing, which are specialized lab tests, to identify underlying factors that may be causing your pain or other symptoms to occur.

Functional medicine tests help create a comprehensive analysis of your health, and in some cases, they can be an essential element in the development of your personalized treatment plan. The tests required can vary depending on factors such as your age and symptoms but may include:

• Blood tests to measure certain types of antibodies.
• Saliva and/or urine tests to check information such as hormone levels and deficiencies, nutritional information, and metabolic processes and deficiencies at a cellular level.
• DNA testing to identify nutritional and other deficiencies.
• A stool test to check gut health.
• Food sensitivity testing.
• Genetic testing (through saliva, blood, or oral swab testing) helps determine the best treatment or medication by providing information about your genes.

How Does Integrative Therapy Work? 

Your practitioner will use all the information gathered to connect the dots between conditions, injuries, and lifestyle and will then make recommendations and work with you to develop a highly individualized therapy plan to alleviate symptoms, restore your body’s balance, and improve different aspects of your life.

The therapy plan may focus on:

• Diet and nutrition
• Medications
• Supplements
• Regular exercise
• Therapeutics
• Detoxification programs
• Stress management techniques

The therapy plan aims to optimize health and correct the underlying root cause of your health concerns. If you are living with a chronic disease, such as arthritis, diabetes, or fibromyalgia, other initiatives like care planning, preventive healthcare approaches, and regular monitoring will be incorporated within your therapy plan to ensure the best possible results and ongoing good health.

Because integrative medicine focuses on a person’s overall health and well-being, it can benefit many different people, including healthy people looking to stay balanced and on top of their health for years to come. However, it can be especially beneficial to those with chronic or complex conditions looking to find a healthier, more proactive approach to improved wellness.

Integrative Wellness Solutions

If you are living with chronic pain and are interested in finding out more about how integrative wellness could benefit you, contact Alpha Care Wellness Center. Board-certified and fellowship-trained integrative and functional medicine practitioner, Dr. Catherine Oseni, Pharm. D., FAAMFM, ABAAHP, and FICT, will take the time to listen to your concerns and help map out the best solutions for all your healthcare needs.

At Alpha Care Wellness Center, we diagnose and treat clients with a variety of conditions and disorders linked to acute and chronic illnesses. We believe in treating the individual as a whole and use a variety of methods for testing and analysis to ensure a well-rounded, personalized care plan.

To learn more about our services, call our office today at: (817) 550-6332 or schedule a wellness consultation using our convenient online form.