Learning how our modern medical system originated and how it has changed can help you better understand how it functions today.
Way back in 400 BC, medicine was called natural medicine. Hippocrates was the founder of natural medicine, based on the belief that the laws of nature induce cures. Our present day Doctors of Naturopathy hold this philosophy.
Until the early 1900s, medical schools taught natural healing. These doctors learned the power of herbs and hydrotherapy, and they encouraged the consumption of fruits and vegetables. They were considered naturopaths. Yes, there were snake oil charlatans as well, and this period was considered the wild west of medicine. Anyone could do anything to anyone.
Osteopathic medicine is a distinct form of medical care founded on the philosophy that all body systems are interrelated and dependent upon one another. This philosophy was developed in 1874 and introduced the concept of “wellness.” It also recognized the importance of treating illness within the context of the whole body. Today Osteopaths receive the same training as conventional doctors as well as additional education to learn hands-on techniques to help alleviate pain, restore motion, support the body’s natural functions, and influence the body’s structure to help it function more efficiently.
Chiropractic medicine began in the late 1890s. Chiropractors specialize in enhancing overall health by providing hands-on care using therapies to correct misalignment of the spine. They also provide nutrition and lifestyle counseling, physical medicine, and exercise to rehabilitate the body. Their education is similar to conventional doctors with additional courses in rehabilitation, nutrition, more intensive anatomy and physiology, and public health. They know that the spinal cord connects every part of the body to the brain, and that the brain, in turn, sends signals to all parts of the body. They believe that even minor adjustments to the spinal column can improve these communication channels and thereby improve the condition of the patient.
Naturopathy became a recognized specialty in 1900s. Naturopaths receive typical medical education as well as holistic and nontoxic approaches to therapy with a strong emphasis on disease prevention and optimizing wellness. They also study clinical nutrition, botanical and homeopathic medicine, psychology, and counseling. They take board exams and are licensed by the individual state in which they practice.
Around 1900, the American Medical Association (AMA) was a weak organization with little money and little respect from the general public. Chiropractic medicine had just been introduced, homeopathy was thriving, and herbalists were flourishing.
The AMA established a Council on Medical Education (CME) in 1904. This council’s stated mission was to “upgrade medical education” — a seemingly noble goal. However, the CME had actually devised a plan to rank medical schools throughout the country, with guidelines designed to curtail the teaching of anything except the emerging medicines of the petrochemical industry. If a medical school included the descriptive word “homeopathic” in its name, its ranking would be reduced because the AMA asserted that such schools taught “an exclusive dogma.” Unfortunately it wasn’t the exclusive dogma that profited the members of the AMA.
By 1910 the AMA was out of money and didn’t have the funds to complete the project. The Rockefellers had joined forces with the Carnegie Foundation to create an education fund, and they were approached by N. P. Colwell (secretary of the Council on Medical Education) to finish the job they had started but could no longer fund. Rockefeller and Carnegie agreed. Simon Flexner, who was on the Board of Directors for the Rockefeller Institute, proposed that his brother, Abraham, who knew nothing about medicine, be hired for the project. Who would have known that the two brothers would do more to change the 20th century than the Wright brothers!
Despite his lack of medical knowledge, Flexner planned to restructure the AMA and certify medical schools based solely upon his own recommendations. Eventually, Flexner submitted a report to The Carnegie Foundation entitled Medical Education in the United States and Canada, also known as the Flexner Report. As expected, the report determined that it was far too easy to start a medical school and that most medical schools were not teaching sound medicine. Translation: their teaching was not sufficiently drug intensive. (Carnegie and Rockefeller owned drug companies.)
Once the AMA graded medical colleges, homeopathic colleges, even the large and respected ones, were forced to stop teaching homeopathy or die from lack of funding. This impacted the teaching of naturopathy and eclectic medical schools in the same way. Destroying the teaching institutions that would have carried them forward into the modern era effectively eliminated any competition to patent medicines.
With public backing secured by the publication of the Flexner Report, Carnegie and Rockefeller commenced a major upgrade in medical education by financing only those medical schools that taught drug-based medicine. They systematically dismantled the curricula of these schools by removing any mention of the natural healing power of herbs and plants or of the importance of diet to health. The result is a system which to this day churns out doctors who are nearly always clueless about nutrition and the idea that what you eat can actually heal or hurt you.
By 1925, over 10,000 herbalists were out of business. By 1940, over 1500 chiropractors would be prosecuted for practicing “quackery”. The 22 homeopathic medical schools that flourished in 1900 dwindled to just 2 by 1923. By 1950, all schools teaching homeopathy were closed. In the end, if a physician did not graduate with an MD from a Flexner-approved medical school, he could not find a job as a doctor.
In the 1970s, some forward thinking doctors began to change how they treated patients, and Integrative Medicine was born. This approach to care puts the patient at the center and addresses the full range of physical, emotional, mental, social, spiritual, and environmental influences on a person’s health. Providers use all healing sciences to facilitate the body’s innate healing response. They use effective interventions that are natural and less invasive whenever possible. Integrative Medicine strategies also focus on prevention and foster the development of healthy behaviors and skills for effective self-care that patients can use throughout their lives.
In 1991 Functional Medicine became a recognized specialty. A group of doctors was frustrated with the present day health care system model where a “pill for every ill” was the norm. Too often patients found themselves on a downward spiral, with increasing disease and more and more medications.
A traditional medical doctor uses drugs or hormones as therapeutic tools to deal with dysfunction or disease. The standard model of care is generally the same for every condition — diagnose the disease and match the disease with a corresponding drug. This model of care works very well for acute diseases, trauma, emergencies, and infection, but it fails miserably in the care of the chronic diseases that affect over 125 million Americans.
A functional medical practitioner can start from a variety of disciplines, but must also take an incredible amount of advanced training in biochemistry, human anatomy and physiology, nutrition, pathology, and laboratory analysis. They work to find the root cause of the illness and fix that. When medications are needed, they are only used until the underlying problem has been repaired and normal cellular function has resumed. When this occurs, the patient no longer has the disease.
Five basic principles define functional medicine:
1. Our bodies may all operate alike, but we are unique individuals. Health care should treat the individual, not the disease.
2. We are complicated individuals with interconnected biochemical reactions.
3. Your body is intelligent and has the capacity for self-regulation.
4. Your body has the ability to heal and prevent nearly all diseases.
5. Health is not just the absence of disease, but a state of immense vitality.
