Functional Medicine: A Modern Root-Cause Approach to Health and Wellness

What Is Functional Medicine?

Functional medicine is a whole-body, systems-based, personalized approach to healthcare that aims to identify and address root causes of illness rather than just treating symptoms. It integrates the best of modern science with holistic, patient-centered care which makes it especially valuable in the age of chronic disease.

Origins and Philosophy of Functional Medicine

Functional medicine emerged in the 1990s, led by clinicians and researchers who saw the limitations of symptom-based treatment models of healthcare. It was formalized by different academies such as the Institute for Functional Medicine (IFM) and The American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine (A4M)—which have historically catered to the adult population, and the Medical Academy of Pediatrics and Special Needs (MAPS)—focused strictly on children’s health, as well as other training programs like the Kalish Institute, Kresser Institute, the Integrative Medicine Fellowship at the University of Arizona (Andrew Weil Center), and the School of Applied Functional Medicine (SAFM).

These and other pioneering groups, including Documenting Hope, continue to research and develop frameworks for understand how lifestyle, genetics, environment, and physiology interact over time and impact us differently at different ages and stages of life—recognizing that people are bio-individual mentally, physically, emotionally and are best served when each of these aspects is taken into account. At its core, functional medicine asks: “Why is this happening in this person, and how can we restore balance?” Rather than just treating a symptom, diagnosis, or insurance code, functional medicine seeks to understand cause and effect, structure and function, and the connections between biologic systems. These models represent a shift in how we understand health.

How Functional Medicine Differs from Conventional, Allopathic Medicine

While conventional Western medicine excels in emergency care, acute illness, and surgery, it often focuses on disease labels and disease management—using medications or procedures to suppress symptoms, treat isolated body parts, or to satisfy current insurance dictates. In contrast, functional medicine views the body as a complex, nuanced system of systems—an ecosystem of functionally diverse, interconnected and interdependent systems—and endeavors to prevent, reverse, or curb the adverse consequences of modern living on the whole person.

Functional-medicine practitioners have typically been trained in an insurance-based and primarily pharmaceutical-oriented, Western model prior to discovering functional medicine. Like their strictly allopathic colleagues, they often request a detailed history and basic lab work from patients. However, they will often explore advanced labs or “alternative” forms of testing, not typically covered by insurance (nor taught in conventional medical curriculums), to achieve truly personalized care. Such testing can provide deeper insights into imbalances in gut health, hormone levels, inflammation, and nutrient status, for example.

Functionally oriented treatments typically emphasize lifestyle factors like nutrition, sleep, stress, and eliminating toxic exposures. They treat the individual, rather than “manage a disease” or diagnosis. For example, instead of giving multiple medications for depression, IBS, and fatigue, a functional-medicine approach might uncover a shared root cause—such as chronic inflammation, gut dysbiosis, or nutrient deficiencies—and treat it at the source.

Meeting the Needs of Adults and Children

Today, societies across the globe are experiencing a rise in chronic conditions such as autoimmune diseases, digestive disorders, allergies, ADHD, anxiety, poor sleep and fatigue in both adults and children. Functional medicine provides a framework to understand why these conditions are appearing earlier in life and more frequently—and how to intervene with long-term, sustainable solutions.

For children, functional medicine is especially empowering. Instead of simply medicating symptoms like hyperactivity or stomach pain, practitioners look for underlying imbalances and contributing factors. Is there gut inflammation? Food sensitivity? Toxic exposure? Blood sugar instability? Nervous system dysregulation? The goal is to support the child’s development and long-term resilience through natural, science-backed and empirically proven interventions.

For adults, functional medicine may offer answers when conventional medicine has run out of options or time, or tests come back “normal” while symptoms persist. A common complaint in medicine is the lack of time health care providers spend with their patients. Functionally inclined health care providers tend to take more time to understand the whole person and context of an individual’s life, to empower each to connect to the wisdom of their own bodies, take an active role in the healing journey, and address emotional aspects too.

Practitioner Types and Areas of Expertise

Health care providers who are trained by functionally oriented institutions and academies like the ones named above come from a broad range of backgrounds and specialties including licensed medical and clinical providers, mental health and allied professionals and nutritional and lifestyle experts. Not every practitioner is trained in every field, but here are some of the more popular areas of focus and common conditions that are addressed through functional medicine.

Neurodevelopmental and Pediatric Conditions