The evolution of allopathic, integrative medicine

Conventional medicine is known as mainstream, orthodox, Western, biomedicine, and allopathic. It’s also called evidence-based and modern medicine. Allo-pathic, as a term, has gained popularity and refers to a system in which trained and licensed practitioners use scientific approaches to diagnose and treat disease and associated symptoms using evaluation, testing, drugs, radiation, or surgery.

Interestingly, the word allopath was once a derogatory term used by those that promoted their own alternative styles of medicine. It was coined in 1810 by the founder of homeopathy, an approach that went against what he thought of as un-scientific systems of medicine imposed by religious authorities. These judgments were later reversed when basic principles of chemistry discovered homeopathic remedies contained no measurable medicine.

As more scientific methods and theories continued to be incorporated, alternative practices, such as osteopathic and chiropractic medicine arose. These were considered irregular at the time, but they also eventually began to incorporate courses and training in biomedicine and moved further away from their unscientific origins.

Practitioners that were once thought of as “irregular” in the early 1900s by the medical establishment, started describing themselves as “alternative” instead. Around the 1990s, a swift movement ensued by those dissatisfied with a payor-based model, as well as the limitations and side-effects of conventional medicine. Chemicals started losing favor, challenges to medical authority arose, and beliefs changed on the philosophy behind medicine.

As this happened, the term alternative was combined with, or completely morphed, into the word “complementary” to avoid the idea of being against conventional medicine. Eventually complementary and alternative was abandoned for the term “integrative” by a group that thought healing existed in all the scientific, cultural, and spiritual traditions.

Integrative medicine has since become a mainstay of the medical educational system. By my count, 28 universities now have a full-on integrative program as part of their medical training. This includes Stanford, UCLA, and Duke Universities. Practitioners have, for the most part, discontinued the term of complimentary and alternative and adapted the less antagonistic use of integrative.

Many of the hard divisions between these styles of medicine are blurring. Science based principles that were once credited solely to the allopathic community, such as evidence-based medicine and research-based practice, can now be found fully embraced within other styles. Efficient literature-searching and the application of formal rules of evidence in evaluating the clinical literature are now skills belonging to both allopathic and integrative practitioners.

In the same vein, many allopathic practitioners have turned the tide towards what was considered alternative and have begun incorporating philosophies and practices of integrative medicine. This includes putting the patient at the center and looking at underlying causes of disease. Personalizing medicine and addressing physical, emotional, mental, social, spiritual, and environmental influences have well made their way into the mainstream.

By using the best possible evidence to choose the best possible solution, allopathic doctors are now recommending therapies once considered alternative, thus creating better patient outcomes and quality of life. In some circles, Western medicine has fully moved toward treating the patient rather than just the disease.

Integrative medicine has become credible enough to officially make it into the American Board of Physician Specialties. This puts it right up there with family medicine, dermatology, surgery, and radiation oncology. That’s pretty far from the ranks of irregular.

The evolution of medicine has not ended though. In recent years, functional medicine has begun to gain popularity among both practitioners and consumers. While embracing the philosophy of integrative medicine, this evolved approach has an emphasis on in-depth laboratory based analysis to determine what is wrong, uses supplements to correct nutrient deficiencies, and focuses ever more on lifestyle changes such as diet, exercise, sleep, and relaxation.

Scott Porter, a functional medicine pharmacist, is the director of the Center for Functional Nutrition at Sandpoint Super Drug.