TO YOUR HEALTH
Integrative Medicine for Optimal Health Leaders in Integrative & Functional Medicine, Holistic Dentistry and Healing Therapies – One Convenient Location –
Beyond the Prescription: Why Integrative Care Is Gaining Ground
a single cause. Instead, they develop through a mix of factors that may include genetics, eating habits, sleep, movement, stress, environment, and social and work relationships. That’s why many people are asking different questions. Instead of asking, “How do I treat this condition?”
BY GINGER MAIR, M.S. For most of us, healthcare has followed a familiar script: something feels wrong, we make an appointment, a doctor names the problem, and we leave with a plan — often a prescrip- tion, a procedure, or a referral. And to be fair, that approach has changed the world.
they’re asking, “How do I become healthier overall?” “How do I increase the quality of my health, not just live longer?” People Want Deeper Conversations About Health Many people are searching for answers that go beyond test results. They want to understand why they feel exhausted when their lab work looks normal. They want to know how stress affects the body, whether inflammation plays a role in how they feel, and how factors like sleep, food, relationships, childhood trauma, toxic work environments, and emotional well-being contribute to long-term health. These aren’t new questions. They simply haven’t always fit neatly into a healthcare system designed pri- marily to diagnose and treat disease. As a clinical herbalist in the state of Maryland, I cannot diagnose or treat disease. While some might see that as a barrier in clinical practice, I have found it can create a different kind of free - dom. It allows me to sit with clients in a deeper conversation about the many causative factors that shape health: home life, childhood experi - ences, major life changes, heartbreak, ongoing stress, and the ways those experiences can show
Modern medicine has nearly wiped out most deadly diseases, made complicated surgeries routine, and turned many once-fatal condi- tions into manageable ones. From vaccines to antibiotics to advanced imaging and emergen- cy care, medical science has dramatically im- proved both life expectancy and quality of life. There’s no question modern medicine is one of humanity’s greatest accomplishments. But something interesting has been happen- ing alongside those advances. More people are paying closer attention to the everyday factors that influence their health. They’re taking up Yoga, learning meditation, tracking their mac - ros, spending more time outdoors, exploring herbal remedies, and seeking healthcare pro- viders who look beyond symptoms alone. Integrative medicine practices are growing, lifestyle medicine is becoming more common in medical education, and research into areas like nutrition, mindfulness, menopause, and the gut microbiome continue to expand. This is not just anecdotal. According to research
Integrative & Functional Medical Care Treats the Root Cause, Not Just Your Symptoms Our doctors treat the whole person by blending integrative medical care with healing therapies. We address a wide range of medical conditions, including allergies, pain, fatigue, hormonal imbalances, gastrointestinal issues, and more.
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conducted by Richard L. Nahin, MPH, PhD, and reported in a 2024 article in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), the percentage of U.S. adults using at least one complementary health approach nearly doubled over the past 20 years, rising from 19.2 per - cent to 36.7 percent in 2022. Practices such as meditation, Yoga, mas - sage therapy, acupuncture, and other evidence-based complementary approaches have all seen significant increases in use. Some people see this shift as a rejection of conventional medicine. In reality, it’s something quite different. Most people aren’t turning away from medicine — they’re looking for a broader understanding of what it means to be healthy. Health is More Than Avoiding Illness Conventional medicine has been incredibly effective at what we might think of as wartime medicine: responding to urgent threats, stabilizing crises, and saving lives when the body is under immediate attack. If you had a serious infection, a broken bone, or appendicitis, modern healthcare could often make the difference between life and death. Today’s biggest health challenges, however, tend to be more com- plex and chronic. This is where peacetime medicine matters most: not in the emergency moment, but in the long, ongoing work of sup- porting the body through conditions that build slowly, linger, and are shaped by daily life. Conditions like heart disease, diabetes, chronic pain, digestive dis- orders, anxiety, burnout, and autoimmune diseases rarely stem from
up physically in the body. In many ways, this is the work of peacetime medicine: tending to the terrain of a person’s life when health challenges are ongoing, complex, and not easily solved by a single intervention. A whole-person ap - proach starts from a different place. It asks not only, “What’s wrong?” it also asks, “What helps this person thrive and recover?” In practice, I often find people are relieved simply to have the room to tell their full story. A symptom may be what brings someone in, but the conversation often widens quickly to include grief, caretaking, overwork, loneliness, or the pressure of holding everything together for everyone else. Moving Beyond Either-or Thinking Even the language we use is starting to change. For years, terms like “alternative medicine” suggested people had to choose one approach over another. But that is not how most people think about healthcare today. Someone might take prescribed medication, get regular screen- ings, and see their primary care doctor while also seeing a Reiki heal- er, taking herbal medicine, or using certain evidence-informed com- plementary therapies. These choices are not necessarily in conflict. For many people, they are part of the same effort: to feel better, un - derstand their bodies more fully, and support health from more than one angle. The goal is not to replace modern medicine. It is to build a more complete picture of health.
• Natural, Alternative Pain Therapies
• Holistic & Biological Dental Services
• Chiropractic
• Acupuncture • IV Therapies
• Ketamine Therapy
Dr. Girish Kalva is board certified in Internal Medicine & Obesity Medicine. • Integrative Primary Care • Anti-aging/Dementia Prevention • Cardiometabolic Conditions • Men/Women’s Health • Weight Loss • Hypo/Hyperthyroidism
Dr. Coy Roskosky, D.C., Chiropractor • Quick, effective pain relief • Real alignment for real life • Improve body/mind/energy • NET/Trigger Points/Dry needling & more
National Integrated Health Associates 5225 Wisconsin Ave., NW, Suite 402 Washington, DC 20015 Friendship Heights Metro, Garage parking www.nihadc.com • Call (202) 237-7000
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PATHWAYS—Fall 26—9
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