Research Shows Functional Medicine Helps Inflammatory Arthritis

Arthritis is the leading cause of disability in the US, accounting for 35% of its total disability cases. But there’s good news for patients suffering with this debilitating condition. A study performed at the Cleveland Clinic Center for Functional Medicine, published in October 2020, is the first report to find scientific evidence that functional medicine can help alleviate a patient’s pain while addressing physical and mental health.

Functional medicine expands on conventional treatment for arthritis by addressing underlying causes, symptoms, and imbalances. It addresses nutrition as the first line of therapy to prevent, treat, and reverse chronic disease. By providing an individualized model of care focused on the patient’s symptoms, underlying causes for chronic disease can be revealed. Practitioners take into account the patient’s lifestyle, environmental factors, and genetics. Functional medicine also provides patient support with a team of caregivers to monitor progress and help patients reach their health goals.

Researchers on the Center for Functional Medicine team set out to see how lifestyle factors affected symptoms and overall health of those with inflammatory arthritis. Patients with either rheumatoid arthritis or psoriatic arthritis received either standard of care alone or standard of care plus adjunctive functional medicine treatment with a 12-week functional medicine program.

The findings were encouraging and proved that functional medicine is highly effective for improving well-being and quality of life. There was significant improvement in all outcomes for patients treated with the traditional medical treatment for inflammatory arthritis while following the functional medicine program.