Are you considering alternative treatments for your medical conditions? If conventional treatments haven’t worked sufficiently or at all to improve your health, or if they’ve led to side effects which have negatively impacted your health and quality of life, it may be worth your time to consider working with a doctor specializing in holistic medicine. If you’re unfamiliar with what holistic medicine actually is, or you’re skeptical about how beneficial this approach could be for you, you’re in the right place.

Better Health and Wellness is home to skilled providers of holistic medicine in Florida. Our team of physicians, headed by Dr. Dana MacGrady and Dr. Jonathan Clark, is extensively experienced in this field of medicine and offers treatments ranging from acupuncture to LBG lymph drainage therapy to tackle your health issues at the root.

In this blog post, we’ll outline what holistic medicine actually is, what holistic doctors do, and what to look for in a doctor you’re thinking about consulting.

What is holistic medicine?

Holistic medicine, as implied by its name, takes a look at your overall health to assess the root of your medical issues. We’ve written previously about some of the benefits of this approach on our blog, but specifically, it’s founded on the following principles:

• Good health is a combination of factors: These factors range from the physical and mental to social and spiritual factors.
• Prevention is the priority: Whereas traditional medicine focuses more on treating the symptoms of a condition, holistic medicine is focused on finding the root of those problems and preventing future ones.
• Treatment takes many forms: Aside from the specific treatments mentioned earlier in this post and elsewhere on our website, it also includes education, self-care, and even traditional medicine. For most people, holistic medicine is best used as a supplement to traditional approaches.
• The patient is not defined by their condition: It’s important for both a patient and their doctor to distinguish themselves from the medical issues they’re suffering from. Focusing too much on the condition weakens the relationship between a patient and their doctor, and makes it more difficult to find and treat underlying issues.

What do holistic doctors do?

Holistic doctors approach medical conditions with the goal of finding root causes and preventing future issues with treatments focused on the body as a whole. Some of the different types of holistic doctors people frequently visit include osteopaths, integrative physicians, ayurvedic doctors, naturopathic doctors, and traditional Chinese medicine practitioners. You can read more about each of these in this Healthline article.

What to look for in a holistic doctor

As with any type of doctor, it’s best to do your research before choosing a holistic doctor. Find out what you can about their experience, board certification, and associations with professional organizations and hospital affiliations. You should also get as much of a sense of their treatment style as you can to make sure it’s one that works for you.

Once you first meet with the doctor, you should evaluate how they treat you during your first appointment. If you feel comfortable and respected, that you’re being given an adequate amount of time, and that the doctor is asking the number and types of questions necessary to get a full sense of your lifestyle and state of health, they may be a suitable option for you.

To find out more about what to look for in the right holistic doctor for you, take a look at this WebMD article.

Schedule a consultation with us!

If you’re interested in a style of treatment focused on improving your whole state of health, consider the practitioners at Better Health and Wellness. Contact us now to schedule an appointment or learn more about holistic medicine in Florida!