We often think that to reduce pain symptoms, we just need pain medication, a muscle relaxer, or some form of inflammatory over-the-counter supplement. As much as these may subdue our pain symptoms they will not actually address the reason we are in pain and therefore can be very limited in dealing with our issue. This is where functional medicine can help. Functional medicine seeks to address the root of the problem so that you’re not just masking your symptoms but actually resolving them. 

What Is Functional Medicine

Functional medicine is a biology-based system that focuses on identifying and addressing the root cause of a patient’s health issue. Depending on the individual there can be many contributing factors that express themselves as symptoms. Functional medicine seeks to discover the answers to these symptoms by identifying triggers in areas like nutrition, stress, allergens, genetics, toxins, and gut dysfunction. By gathering medical history and assessing a patient’s current health, this information can be used to discover and treat the root cause so every individual can go forward living their best life. 

How Can Functional Medicine Help With Back Pain

Chronic pain can hinder many aspects of an individual’s life by limiting how they can function through their day to day but there are ways to lessen one’s chronic back pain. One of the primary causes of pain is inflammation so the initial idea is to reduce inflammation in the body. This is done by addressing an individual’s gut health, nutrition and other lifestyle and environmental factors that could be contributing to the inflammation. Once this is established, therapies such as laser treatments, non-surgical spinal decompression and neuropathy treatments can be offered to lessen back pain issues based on learning the root cause of pain. 

Functional medicine also addresses lifestyle choices by teaching patients how to modify personal choices so they can get the most out of their treatments. By combining functional medicine with tailored nutrition and exercise an individual can be well on their way to living their best life all without the use of medications or surgery. 

Functional Medicine Providers In Vancouver Washington

Dr. Tom Kessinger

Dr. Tom Kessinger has been teaching patients about their conditions and strategies to improve health for over ten years. He specializes in spine-related conditions and nervous system diseases. Some conditions that he has treated are spinal stenosis, degenerative disc disease, herniated and bulging discs, and sciatica. 

Stephanie Jones

Stephanie Jones is a nurse practitioner who has practiced a variety of roles within the medical community. Her work with functional medicine began in the beginning of 2016 dealing with chronic pain management. Functional medicine has played a personal role in her life and is something that she gets to share with her patients as she helps them to function and thrive in life. 

Amber Workman

Amber Workman is a functional medicine certified health coach who understands the benefits of functional medicine through her own journey in dealing with personal health issues. She loves sharing her passion and expertise to help others, especially where conventional medicine has lacked. 

Almost 65 million people in the U.S. report back pain with almost 16 million adults experiencing chronic back pain that limits their everyday life. This leads to back pain being the sixth most expensive condition to be treated in the United States. If you experience chronic back pain and can not seem to find a treatment that works, contact your local Vancouver Washington providers to see how they can help.