What is Functional Medicine?
Functional medicine is a holistic approach to health that seeks to locate and address the underlying/root cause of disease. By shifting the overall view of medical practice, functional medicine is an individual approach in which we address the whole person as opposed to individual issues.
As a functional health practitioner, Dr. Malone spends an extensive amount of time with patients, looking over histories, environmental/lifestyle factors, and even what role genetics may play in an individual’s health. We spend time with our clients, listening to their histories and looking at the interactions among genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors that can influence long-term health and complex chronic disease.
This personalized approach to health supports the individualized expression of health for any person.
Functional Medicine Testing at Tri-County Wellness Clinic
Dr. Malone offers a variety of different functional medicine tests so that she can better serve her patients and community. Of the tests, these are the most utilized:
Hair Analysis
– Minerals are the “sparkplugs” of life. They are involved in almost all enzyme reactions within the body. Without enzyme activity, life ceases to exist. A trace mineral analysis is preventative as well as useful as a screening tool.
Blood Chemistry Testing
– Doing regular blood testing is an important test. There are over 100 types of different blood tests available, and oftentimes this type of test is the most utilized to learn how well your body is working.
Brain Span
– Dietary, health, genetic, metabolic, and lifestyle factors influence the structural and functional health of your brain over time. The NeuroHealth assessment allows you to track the health of your brain like you track the health of your heart. When your brain works right, your body works right.
Zing Performance
– This is a personalized program consisting of coordinated exercise activities that are designed to stimulate the cerebellum of the brain, which causes neurogenesis, or new cells. This program allows the brain to prepare for new learning. Zinc performance offers an initial eye tracking and cognitive assessment to quickly determine if the program is right for anyone seven years of age or older.
Saliva Testing
– Saliva testing can’t specifically measure hormone levels whether they are free or unbound. This is important because it can eliminate the need to estimate how much circulating hormone is present in a patient’s body.
Urinalysis Testing
– Urinalysis testing can provide many insights into your health. Your analysis testing can provide many different tests such as testing protein, pH, key tones, glucose, Billy Rubin, nitrate, leukocyte, and specific gravity, to name a few. This can be a preventative or a reactive test.
Food Sensitivity
– When the immune system reacts to a certain food, it leads to inflammation and or irritation in the G.I. system or gastrointestinal system. This irritation can happen every time this food is consumed. Allergies and sensitivities can range in severity, some even being silent until caught.