The practice of integrative medicine includes the idea that there is a collaboration between the provider and the patient which moves the patient toward health by combining the best of conventional medicine with the best of complementary natural medicine. This incorporates other healing systems such as Traditional Chinese Medicine.
At Primary Children’s Hospital, we are committed to using evidence based medicine, however, we may use therapies for which we do not have evidence yet but they have either no or very low risk of harm. These may include using food as medicine, aromatherapy, acupuncture, relaxation techniques, herbal and dietary supplements when appropriate.
How can an integrative approach help your child? Our approach is to look at the whole child including body, mind and spirit as we understand that health and wellness is affected by everything in a child’s life. This includes looking at the family connections, stress, spiritual connections, school issues and nutrition as well as the physical concerns. Many of our patients have complicated medical histories and take several medications which are managed by their primary care provider or subspecialist. We provide input such as how to improve nutrition, manage pain and anxiety with less medications and focus on wellness vs. disease. We believe in supporting the body by eating whole foods, drinking pure water, decreasing stress, exercise and having healthy relationships with others. By combining western and eastern healing philosophies we believe that all children can move to a better state of well-being, no matter where they are starting from.