Dr Duke blends his Holistic approach with Functional and Integrative medicine to better reach a patients root cause of disease or injury.
Functional Medicine
Functional medicine and Integrative medicine share many of the same pillars of Holistic medicine. Like Holistic medicine, Functional medicine addresses the patients body as a whole. Dr Duke will utilize Functional medicine to address nutrition, exercise and lifestyle changes in order for patients to reach optimal health. This means that a simple diagnosis of IBS or low back pain can have many different root causes. Sometimes, the root cause for IBS can be buried in emotional issues, other times it can be due to chronic inflammation from antibiotics taken decades ago. Low back pain can be due to trauma but it can also be due to chronic inflammation from a poor diet. Regardless of the diagnosis, they must be treated differently in order for a patient to return to optimal health. Pharmaceuticals for IBS are a band-aid as is surgery for the lower back and even these generally do not work or cause other problems.
The exact manifestation can be due to anything from environmental issues, to genetic issues or lifestyle. There is no one size fits all treatment protocol for these conditions. By blending Functional medicine with Holistic modalities Dr Duke is able to resolve difficult cases that other physicians struggle with. This is because conventional medicine does not tailor their treatment protocols to the patients but uses a once size fits all approach.
Integrative Medicine
Integrative medicine provides additional treatment options to address a patients health. In order to reach the root cause it is necessary to combine conventional ideas with alternative treatments. Utilizing Holistic medical treatments and conventional medical care can provide the missing puzzle pieces that are preventing a patient from healing.
Dr Duke uses the latest laboratory testing and diagnostic techniques to implement treatment protocols that assist patients in returning to optimal health. Alternative medical practitioners are helpful, Dr Duke practices Alternative and Holistic medicine, but Alternative medical practitioners can also get lost in their own dogma. Using alternative methods alone does not promise 100% resolution for patients issues. Conventional medicine has a role to play in reaching optimal health. Utilizing the latest lab techniques can provide insight that could go missing otherwise. This additional information can provide more options for other alternative modalities that may not have been considered otherwise. For instance, migraines in certain alternative offices can be treated simply with Acupuncture (see Tampa acupuncture), however, specific lab work can help find underlying nutritional issues that can also be inhibiting a patient from improving.
By utilizing Integrative medicine, a combination of alternative and conventional care, patients have a greater chance of reaching optimal health than by using any one modality on its own. This blending of Integrative medicine and Holistic medicine is what has made Dr Duke a leader in the alternative medical community in Tampa, FL.