This year’s many Functional Medicine Hong Kong Conferences attracted about tens of thousands of participants from thirty-three different countries. This is a significant number for a country of just seven million. However, if we look at the performance of these ‘global’ practitioners, we find that they tend to vary significantly from one conference to another. This illustrates the difficulty of finding meaningful similarities in their ideas and models.
One reason that functional medicine has become so popular in recent years is that it combines the healing power of the whole person with the scientific study of the brain. This means that a functional approach has much to recommend it compared to some traditional approaches that focus only on disease symptoms. In this way, it is much more successful at treating people without the use of chemicals or medicines. The best proof of this is that a large proportion of those who have undergone Functional Medicine Hong Kong treatment have experienced dramatic improvement. In fact, it is more successful than Western treatments.
Of course, when a Western doctor diagnoses someone as being “blocked” by a disease, it is only because of the physical symptoms of that disease. It is not because that person has the disease and does not need or want to be treated.
In order to truly understand how Functional Medicine can be used for the management of diseases, it is necessary to first be clear about the difference between diseases of the body. Diseases of the body are what doctors call acute or chronic conditions.
If Functional Medicine is done correctly, its emphasis will be on addressing the cause of the problem rather than merely treating the symptoms. There is much to be said for the old adage that if you don’t know where the problem lies, you cannot effectively treat it.
A disease is anything that interferes with normal function or functionality. The physical symptoms of a disease can sometimes be very similar to those of other diseases, but they do not involve the same brain chemistry.
It is possible that some people who have experienced Functional Medicine Hong Kong have suffered from the physical symptoms of migraine headaches, for example. But they would never have sought out Functional Medicine Hong Kong to address this particular problem.
‘Functional medicine’ can also be used to describe any approach that is less pharmaceutical-based, less chemical-based, and is more concerned with identifying the cause rather than simply treating the symptoms. This means that Functional Medicine Hong Kong will treat the root cause of a particular condition, which is usually a biochemical imbalance that is caused by an imbalance in hormones or enzymes. Even though Functional Medicine Hong Kong may be using the correct treatments, the results will not necessarily be seen immediately.
It is essential to note that Functional Medicine is not a replacement for modern medical science. It does not cure anything, but it can help people identify the real problem, and then provide a safe and effective means of fixing it. This can be accomplished with dietary or lifestyle changes, or with the use of new-age methods that allow an energy flow to enter the body.
Among the many approaches that are described as ‘functional medicine’ in the English language, acupuncture is an effective method of treatment that is being used in Functional Medicine Hong Kong. This is because it focuses on the true cause of the disease and does not involve treating the symptoms.
The feeling about Functional Medicine Hong Kong is mixed. Some proponents feel that it does not offer enough relief to be considered a complete and useful alternative to Western medicine. In fact, it appears that they are missing out on the main advantages of Western medicine.
So, what is the best approach to Functional Medicine? For most people, it is not by going to a functional medicine clinic, but rather by investigating what is called Alternative Medical Therapies (AMA) – Alternative Medicine Research Institutes – in which the practitioner is trained in alternative methods of medicine – rather than by going to a licensed professional medical clinic.