Integrative Medicine

What is Integrative Medicine?

Integrative medicine (IM), also known as complementary medicine, combines conventional medicine with complementary treatments and therapies, taking into account all factors that influence a person’s wellbeing. The belief is that health should be viewed in a much broader context. It shifts the focus from diagnoses and symptoms to establishing deep and enduring health practices, emphasizing the therapeutic relationship between practitioner and patient, in order to optimize your overall health and well-being. Our goal is to not only address your physical well-being but your emotional and spiritual well-being through our integrative medicine therapies.

Mind-Body Connection    

Integrative health and wellness expands treatment options to include those that reflect a mind-body-spirit perspective. Caring for the mind and body together can improve your mood, quality of life and ability to cope with stress. Many of our integrative services focus on mind-body techniques that support the interconnectedness of our mind, body and spirit.

Mercy’s integrative medicine doctors work in conjunction with your care team - your primary care doctor and any specialists that may be treating you - to add new tools to help you to preempt disease, prevent relapse and regain your physical, mental, emotional and spiritual balance.

Conditions We Treat

Mercy promotes healing with a full range of conventional and complementary treatments and therapies for children and adults with a variety of health conditions. We offer expertise in areas including:

Integrated Health & Wellness Programs

Our integrative medicine providers work with a multidisciplinary staff to assess, evaluate and manage your condition. Our program promotes healing and pain relief through alternative and non-traditional treatments. With support from Mercy, alternative therapies can help you minimize your pain, regain strength and stamina, and improve your quality of life. 

Acupuncture

Acupuncture uses thin, solid needles that are placed at specific points on the skin to redirect energy and stimulate healing or pain prevention.

Chiropractic

At Mercy, we use chiropractic care as a key treatment in our integrative medicine program. Chiropractic medicine focuses on physical adjustments to the spine and joints that support healing.

Healing Touch

Healing touch therapy, also known as reiki, uses very light or near-body touch to create an energetic interaction to reduce stress. It can be used to calm and prepare patients for surgery, chemotherapy and other anxiety-provoking procedures. Reiki therapy is said to facilitate a spiritual connection and often helps clients with emotional distress. It is especially useful for patients who are in pain, but unable to tolerate traditional massage therapy, such as fibromyalgia and burn patients. If you would like to know more about healing touch therapy, talk to your Mercy primary care doctor.

Reflexology

Reflexology is the practice of applying pressure to the feet, hands or ears to relieve stress or pain in different parts of your body. It is based on reflex areas that correspond to organs and systems of the body, meaning applying pressure to certain areas of the bottom of your foot, for example, may ease pain in your back. The right amount of pressure, applied in the right place, can make a world of difference. As part of our integrative medicine team, Mercy has trained reflexologists ready to help you ease your pain, meet your goals and achieve a more balanced, healthy life.

These and other alternative approaches to pain rehabilitation can have immediate and long-lasting benefits. You may notice that you feel better by taking fewer pain medications and, as a result, you feel better about your physical, emotional and spiritual health. 

Mindfulness / Meditation 

Mindfulness is the practice of relaxation through focused breathing and concentration. Meditation is about being relaxed yet focusing your attention on staying in the moment. To clear your mind of clutter and distractions while meditating, some people find it helpful to focus on the sound of their breathing, while others think of a place they would like to visit, such as a beach.

Meditation can have a large effect on the brain’s ability to maintain emotional wellbeing as well as aiding in the healing process. By including meditation in your health and wellness routine, you can reduce stress and find a sense of peace and balance that might be missing in your life. You can practice meditation anywhere and at any time, which is one reason it’s used as such an effective de-stressing tool.

Mindfulness and meditation have been shown to deliver lasting benefits for people with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), heart disease, migraine headaches, anxiety, depression and some autoimmune diseases.

Tai Chi

Tai Chi is a Chinese martial art that improves balance and eases physical and psychological symptoms. The exercise is performed using slow movements with rhythmic breathing and concentration.

Therapeutic Pilates and Yoga

Therapeutic Yoga and Pilates are exercise practices uniting breathing and meditation. They are both excellent ways to relieve stress as well as ease cancer treatment side effects.