Integrative Immunology

Integrative Immunology is a relatively new field of medicine combining conventional and traditional medical practices. Its primary purpose is to improve overall health by enhancing the body’s innate ability to fight disease. This holistic approach utilizes various methods of diagnosis, treatment and prevention to consider all aspects of a patient’s life. Many traditional forms of medicine emphasize the importance of an individual’s mind, body and spirit for holistic health. The integration of traditional medical approaches into conventional immunology offer an additional layer of consideration to help strengthen a patient’s immunity. For instance, traditional Chinese medicine values the endocrine, digestive, vascular, and neurological systems as part of a person's overall constitution and physical wellbeing. Healing practices such as acupuncture, herbal medicine, gentle exercise, yoga, and meditation, can all aid in improving those systems as well as an individual’s psychological health. In turn, complex issues of immunity can be addressed. Using integrative immunology allows clinicians to evaluate how physical, mental, and emotional states of health are affecting a patient’s immunity. This affects treatment as well, allowing for the integration of traditional healing techniques into individualized plans of care. A patient’s experience as a whole is of primary importance to integrative immunology so that health plan may be crafted that takes into account the full picture of the patient’s lifestyle. Integrative immunology offers a unique way to think about health and wellness, and is becoming an increasingly popular form of treatment among clinicians in the medical field. By utilizing traditional healing practices in combination with conventional approaches, clinicians are able to help patients build better immune systems and achieve greater levels of health and wellbeing.