Advanced Alternatives in Integrative Medicine: Gordon Medical Associates
At Gordon Medical you’ll find multiple treatment approaches that are complementary to those of western medicine. These form
the basis of care for our patients. Read more about these special areas of medicine:
By encompassing healing treatments not used by
western allopathic medicine, but common in many cultures, alternative medicine enables practitioners and patients to create healing.
Acupuncture, botanical medicine, supplements, and energy medicine are part of alternative medicine, and these methods are often combined
with western approaches to provide integrative medical care.
Functional medicine is one of the names for the new paradigm of medical care to diagnose and treat imbalances before they become disease. Functional medicine practitioners use nutrition, probiotics, and botanical medicine to bring the body back into balance, with the intention of eliminating the need for pharmaceuticals that may cover up a problem.
A dynamic approach to health, healing, and prevention that combines modern medicine with established alternative medical practices from around the world. Practitioners have training and interest in conventional Western medicine, alternative, and complementary therapies. They bring a variety of techniques to their practice for the patient’s maximum benefit, including nutritional supplements, herbal remedies, massage, acupuncture, energy work, and more.
Naturopathic medicine, a comprehensive system of primary care concentrating on prevention and treatment of health concerns, integrates modern science and centuries-old, successful, natural wisdom. Naturopathic doctors work cooperatively with all branches of medical science and are experts in the prevention, diagnosis, and management of acute and chronic health concerns. Naturopathic medicine focuses on a highly personalized approach to treatment: its goal is to stimulate the body’s ability to heal itself. Naturopathic medicine is an exceptional means to manage health concerns by complementing conventional medicine.
Naturopathic physicians receive rigorous training at accredited, post-graduate residential naturopathic medical programs before state medical board exams licensing naturopathic primary care doctors. Their medical training includes an in-depth conventional medical sciences education, plus years of clinical training in settings from family practice clinics and hospitals, to community health centers and teaching clinics. In addition to a primary care doctor's medical training, naturopathic doctors have extensive instruction in natural therapies: counseling, clinical nutrition, homeopathy, botanical medicine, hydrotherapy, physical medicine, hormone balancing, and craniosacral therapy. Naturopathic physicians are experts in detoxification and optimal health through balancing of body systems.
Nurse practitioners are registered nurses with advanced education and additional clinical training enabling them to effectively diagnose and manage most common and many chronic illnesses, independently or as part of a health care team. They take medical histories, provide physical exams, perform procedures, and provide and order treatments, including prescribing medication. Of particular benefit to patients are the personalized care, education and explanation of diagnoses and health care options.
NPs focus on a variety of health maintenance, disease prevention, counseling, and patient education approaches. Over the past 30 years, nurse practitioners have given care to hundreds of thousands of patients. They are recognized by most insurance companies for reimbursement purposes and in California, nurse practitioners practice with a collaborative physician.
Linus Pauling introduced orthomolecular medicine in the 1960s, launching a branch of medicine using natural substances to balance medical conditions. The focus of orthomolecular medicine revolves around biochemical individuality and deficiencies that can result in disrupted body function.
Osteopathy is a complete branch of medicine parallel to allopathic (conventional) medicine. It emphasizes normal structure for optimal body function, and believes the body has a profound ability to heal itself if it is free from physical obstruction. Since the body is an integrated unit, an osteopath studies medical problems by looking at how obstructions, often in distant body parts, might affect symptoms.
U.S. trained osteopaths have the same rigorous basic training as medical doctors and take the same residency trainings. They have unrestricted, equivalent licensure to practice in any field of medicine. Depending on training and approach, they may prescribe medications, perform procedures, or treat with manual manipulation.
Physical medicine offers ways to recover from orthopedic injuries, strengthen the immune system, and address a multitude of health concerns including detoxification, chronic injury pain, or arthritis. Treatment techniques incorporate hydrotherapy (water-based methods of healing tissues), soft-tissue manipulation, muscle stretching, and manipulation and adjustment of the spine and extremities, if necessary. Additional physiotherapy techniques-ultrasound, electrical muscle stimulation, and diathermy-also support this modality.
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