The Evolution of Healing: Integrative Medicine and Osteopathy for Mind, Body & Spirit.
Vitruvian Man
Patients and practitioners alike are welcome to join Dr. Patterson and Dr. Tetlow on at the functional forum on July 10 for our presentation and community dialogue regarding The Evolution of Healing: Integrative Medicine and Osteopathy for Mind, Body & Spirit. In an effort to create an evergreen blog to stimulate your interest to attend the talk, or catch you up if you missed the event – read on!
Join Dr. Patterson and Dr. Tetlow of Philadelphia Integrative Medicine to learn more about the dynamic combination of functional integrative medicine with osteopathy. We’ll cover the basic components of Dr. Patterson’s osteopathic care, which addresses nervous system balance, attends to lymphatics and of course biomechanics. Will also cover the key principles of osteopathy and how these echo Integrative Medicine principles:
The body is a unit: the person is a unit of body, mind and spirit.
The body is capable of self regulation, self healing and self maintenance.
Structure and function are reciprocally interrelated.
Rational treatment is based upon an understanding of the basic principles of body unit, self-regulation and the interrelationship of structure and function.
Osteopathy has recognized the role of nervous system balance in immune resilience and healing of chronic illness for 150 years
Functional and Integrative Medicine approaches have been quicker than conventional medicine to catch up to the importance of the nervous system in immune health and the healing of chronic illness. Many complex conditions have a vagal insufficiency component – a lack of vagal tone, or overexpressed sympathetic nervous state – that means being stressed consistently, a lot of the time. Acknowledgment and treatment on this level – not just quick fixes but an actual nervous system shift to peace and relaxation - makes a significant difference to most chronic illness, and specialty testing to elucidate underlying imbalances and disordered physiology is equally essential and a creates a dynamic combination for quickened healing and faster return to a joyful, well life.
How the body is hard-wired
Every organ in the body has a regulating nerve connection from both the sympathetic or parasympathetic nervous system. Only one nervous system input is predominant at one time. Sympathetics are turned on, or parasympathetics are turned on. Our sympathetic nerve connections are active when we are in a state of fight / flight / freeze, for example when we feel personally or existentially threatened (the body can’t tell the difference between a gun being pointed at us and the feeling that a gun is being pointed at us.) In contrast, our parasympathetic nerve input is dominant when we are in a state of resting, eating, digesting, learning, sleeping, making love, etc.
Modern life and chronic inflammation and illness
Our cultural norms and expectations often have us in a state of sympathetic activation – and economic hardship, pre- or post- pandemic norms, and the challenges of managing many family roles – children, parents, relationships with significant others – on top of work roles within and outside the home – have most people in a state of heightened stress more than ever before.
Usually the amount we ask of ourselves is too much, but we can’t seem to shift things and ask less. We often prioritize getting more and more done, meeting society’s and our family;s expectations, rather than slowing down, doing less, and prioritizing our health and wellbeing (which takes time and often resources). Now that viral and all categories of acute infection rates have soared globally, the body is in even more often in a state of reactivity and self-defense. What is the modern woman, man or non binary person to do? How can they prevent frequent infection? How can they free themselves from scary new or ongoing symptoms? Each of these questions are in part answered by addressing vagal insufficiency – that means promoting vagal tone and thus immune resilience and nervous system balance. When we do this, we feel well, relaxed, more in control, and more at peace. How to feel that? What do I do?
The dynamic combination of Osteopathy and Integrative Medicine
At Philadelphia Integrative Medicine, we recommend functional and integrative specialty testing to comprehensively evaluate your thyroid, balance your microbiome, assess and correct hormone metabolites, identify the role of cortisol - or toxicity - to identify the key factors in your situation. A new patient integrative / functional medicine appointment is often the best place to start to establish with your practitioner, get a physiological baseline and discern the forest from the trees. In addition, we may recommend a personalized In-Office New Patient Osteopathic Hands-On Appointment with Dr. Patterson, DO, to take place alongside your functional/integrative medicine care, as part of our whole person approach. To learn more about Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine, click here, and we invite you to attend the talk on 7/10.
Click here for EVENT DETAILS and click here to REGISTER directly.
And here is a little more on the dynamic combination of integrative/functional medicine with osteopathy.
If you have any of the below conditions you can benefit from osteopathy:
Stress and anxiety
Acute and chronic pain
Migraines, Headaches & TMJ
IBS, Constipation, “bad bowels”
Hypermobility & associated pain and symptoms
Fibromyalgia
Low back pain & Sciatica
Shoulder & Neck Pain; Pelvic pain
Pregnancy, post-partum and infants (Dr Jen offers OMM from birth)
Carpal tunnel
But osteopathy combined with functional medicine is more than the sum of its parts. The fourth principe of osteopathy reminds that rational treatment is based on the basic principle that the body is a unit of mind/body spirit, that self-regulation is possible and structure and function always interrelate. Osteopathy is a doorway to a more integrated personal state – you are addressed as a physical, emotional and spiritual being, and treatment on all respective levels is accomplished in a hands-on appointment. Specialty functional tests like an ArenoCortex Stress profile looking at 4 saliva samples throughout the day can show what times of day stress is highest, and this can be rechecked after a period of treatment. (Cortisol levels also point to adequate blood sugar and the role of routine and robust nutrition!) If you organic acids test points to detoxification as a significant concern, osteopathy helps to open the lymphatic channels, and Dr. Patterson may recommend specific practices between appointments. If your chronic pain is multifactorial – due to pelvic misalignment after childbirth, lack or core strength contributing to chronic back or radiating pain - but also due to increased blood or gut inflammation –then all levels can be assessed and addressed in your step wise journey back to wellbeing.
Any and every Philadelphia Integrative provider is ready to partner with you
Each of our practitioners balances your nervous system state - by establishing a healing connection with you, and through listening and partnering with you so you are no longer alone trying to “figure everything out” on your own. Vagal tone exercises can also promote your rest and digest nervous system. But sometimes reading a list is not enough to change our behavior or experience. We invite you to partner with us to gain the unique physiological answers to the origin of symptoms, as well as to receive support and an accountability partner so you are actually changing personally - one small and meaningful step at a time.
PIM wants to hear from you! Do you have an experience with stress, anxiety, migraine or any other condition listed in this blog? Do you find this article helpful? Share your thoughts in the comments below or on our Facebook and Instagram!
Register for our upcoming events!
Are you looking for a more comprehensive, empowering approach to medicine? Schedule a 20-minute free consultation with Lynda Sherland, CRNP, FNP-C or Veronica Porterfield, PA-C today! Not quite ready to schedule and have questions? Quickly get in touch with us today!
If you or your loved one needs help, perhaps you are suffering from the effects of ongoing stress, mood or hormone imbalance, including thyroid imbalance, or you or they are already working with a doctor to address a condition but want a more comprehensive, empowering approach to medicine? Schedule a 20 minute free consultation or an appointment with Dr. Patterson, Dr. Tetlow, or Lynda Sherland, CRNP, FNP-C today! Not quite ready to schedule and have questions? Quickly get in touch with us today!