By Dr. John Rees
This is my inaugural post for my new website blog. I am a Chiropractor and a certified Functional Medicine Provider. I have been in the health care field since 1983 and believe that experience has given me a unique perspective. Functional Medicine (FM) is uniquely different from Traditional Medicine (TM), but is not meant as a replacement. It has a different focus and both approaches are absolutely vital to modern health care.
Traditional Medicine in the last century has made great advancements. It has been responsible for increasing human life expectancy over 25 years for men and almost 30 years for women. In 1916, in the US, men lived to approximately 49.6 years and women 54.3 years. (1) In 2015, in the US, men are expected to live to 76.2 years and women 82.19 years. (2) This is an incredible leap. We still lead the world in cutting edge technology and people still come to our country from all over the globe for care of critical life threatening conditions.
But all is not well with American health care. American health care is significantly more expensive then healthcare anywhere else in the world. In 2010, we spent $8233.00 per person on healthcare. The next highest developed country was Norway which spent $5388.00 per person. The average of developed countries was $3268.00 per person, which was 2.5 times less than the United States. (3)
The old argument that you get what you pay for comes to mind. But let’s take a closer look. We have less doctors per patient, less consultations per patient, less hospital beds per patient and shorter hospital stays per patient. We do more MRI’s, CT scans, tonsillectomies, coronary bypass surgeries, knee replacements and caesarean sections than other countries. (3)
We do some things very well. The 5-year survival rate for breast cancer is the highest in the world at almost 90% and we have the second highest 5-year survival rate for colorectal cancer at 64.5% trailing only Japan. (3)
Primary care is where our system breaks down. We lead the world in hospital admissions for asthma and COPD. (3) In one study we are number 11 out of 17 in overall ranking of developed countries. We had the highest rate of death by violence, death by car accident, highest percentage of children dying before the age of 5, highest teen pregnancy rate, highest chance of women dying from complications of child birth, and the second highest chance of death from coronary heart disease and lung disease. (4)
It is numbers like these, and the dissatisfaction of the American Public and HealthCare Community, that has given rise to the Functional Medicine Movement. Healthcare workers are frustrated with the overall decline in traditional health markers.
- Obesity is on the rise like never before.
- Autoimmune disease incidence has been dramatically increasing since the mid 1990’s.
- Physical activity is down and reliance on technology is up.
- The work force in the US is shrinking and the work that is left is increasingly of a sedentary nature.
- There are significant questions about the quality of our food supply. Our current first lady has been especially vocal about the quality of school lunches and food available in stores in inner city areas.
In 2007, Americans spent 33.9 Billion out of pocket dollars on alternative and complimentary approaches to traditional medical care. This is 11.2% of total health dollars spent. I believe those numbers today are even greater. (5)
In my next blog, I will speak on what is Functional Medicine and what makes it different and unique as compared to Traditional Medicine. If you or someone you love is struggling with health issues that are not resolving, or you continue to feel bad in spite of medical care you are undergoing, call us at Functional Chiropractic, 302-684-1995. Today is the easiest day of the rest of your life, to regain your health. Tomorrow it will be more difficult.
Citations
1. http://demog.berkeley.edu/~andrew/1918/figure2.html2. http://www.data360.org/dsg.aspx?Data_Set_Group_Id=195
3. http://www.oecd.org/unitedstates/HealthSpendingInUSA_HealthData2012.pdf
4. http://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/fund-reports/2014/jun/mirror-mirror
5. https://nccih.nih.gov/news/2009/073009.htm