One of the more popular approaches to improving health involves Functional medicine, which focuses on underlying causes of illness that are influenced by genetic predispositions and the environment in which one lives. 

Functional medicine typically uses individualised therapies to identify what exactly is causing the problem and implements special testing to assess whether imbalances developed prior to the disease or were a result of treating chronic illness. 

The functional medicine approach believes that one condition can have many causes or, conversely, that one cause can have many conditions. For example, you could suffer from depression caused by Vitamin D deficiency and antibiotic use, or you could be experiencing depression and diabetes caused by inflammation. 

Many functional medicine providers use the GOTOIT to get to the root cause of a patient's issues. 

"GOTOIT" stands for:

• Gather 
• Organise 
• Order 
• Initiate 
• Track 

 

The professionals follow each of these steps to develop rapport with their patients, determine unhealthy patterns, find the root cause of their health issues, and create personalised treatments and lifestyle changes to treat their illnesses. The strategy is essential in finding imbalances prior to the onset of disease and restoring maximum function between all physiologic functions in the body.