The use of the word "functional" is key to understanding the integrative medical approach. NIHA has many tests or assessments to determine how the body or organ is currently functioning, or working, as compared with normal, healthy functioning. Functional tests help determine how the body is functioning as opposed to other medical test and imaging tools, which measure pathological breakdown and disease.
A sub-optimal functional test may indicate a need for correction even though traditional testing may show everything is within the normal range. This is a subtle but important difference as many sub-optimal health conditions will cause symptoms that get us to the doctor, but then no reason can be found for what is causing our health problem.
Functional changes occur long before disease is manifested, so functional testing becomes an early warning test for disease which is ideal for prevention-oriented physicians and patients concerned about finding the root cause of their problem.
List of Functional Assessments:
ART, Autonomic Response Testing
Body Composition
Cavitation Assessment
EAV, Electrodermal Screening
EKG, Electocardiogram
HRV, Heart Rate Variability
Iridology
Metabolic Typing
Breast Thermography
