What is lifestyle medicine?
Lifestyle Medicine is an evidenced-based area of medicine that uses lifestyle therapeutic approaches such as a predominantly whole food, plant-based diet, regular physical activity, adequate sleep, stress management, avoidance of risky substances to treat, oftentimes, reverse and prevent lifestyle-related chronic diseases. It is a branch of medicine that looks at the whole person and examines the lifestyle-related causes of disease. Unlike more traditional medical practices, patients are active partners in their care and are encouraged to make changes in their daily routines. This type of active role occurs by creating a vision and goal setting. The lifestyle medicine physician is equipped with health coaching techniques to assist the patient in making long-term, sustainable changes. Lifestyle medicine treatments are focused on treating the root cause of disease. And finally, Lifestyle Medicine is a collaborative, team-based approach to care that recognizes the value of a multi-disciplinary team.
Who needs to see a lifestyle medicine doctor?
With the growing burden of chronic disease in the US, including metabolic diseases and chronic pain, Lifestyle Medicine has become essential. An increasing body of scientific evidence illustrates the power of lifestyle medicine to prevent, treat, and reverse chronic diseases. Lifestyle medicine can therefore benefit those with chronic disease or anyone who wants to optimize their daily lifestyle choices and thus their overall health.
How can lifestyle medicine help with musculoskeletal pain?
Evidence-based lifestyle changes are at the root of building wellness and achieving sustainable pain relief.
- lifestyle medicine is validated by current scientific evidence as highly effective
- it addresses the root cause of disease
- individualized
- has been proven to be safe and efficacious in the treatment and management of pain
- helps modulate pain biochemically by reducing inflammation and oxidative stress that co-exists with pain
- addresses the lifestyle behaviors and psychosocial aspects that directly impact pain and musculoskeletal health
- simultaneously treats the comorbidities or conditions that worsen pain
- optimizes the body’s immunity and innate healing mechanisms
- helps modulate pain perception and mood
Whether the pain is acute or chronic, it is a complex biopsychosocial phenomenon.
Pain management dominated solely by medications, surgeries, and biomechanical interventions or procedures, does not adequately address the lifestyle and psychosocial dimensions of the pain experience and are therefore limited in their long-term efficacy. Lifestyle medicine is a powerful therapy that when combined and coordinated with conventional interventions, can not only reduce pain and suffering, but restore health, vitality, and overall wellness.
Changing unhealthy behavior is fundamental to optimal medical care. Knowledge however is not enough. Altering habits and sustaining them, as we’ve all experienced, is difficult. There is a science to behavior change. Dr. Panjwani uses health coaching techniques with positive psychology to facilitate systematic, meaningful, and sustainable lifestyle changes.
The 6 Pillars of Lifestyle Medicine
“The part can never be well unless the whole is well.” – Plato
Health, vitality and overall wellness rest on certain key lifestyle factors. These areas are listed below as Elevate’s foundational pillars of health, in accordance with the American College of Lifestyle Medicine. Each of these pillars is grounded in science and is evidence-based.
“Wellness” considers the whole person. Through assessment of each of these domains, Dr. Panjwani aims to understand YOU – your lifestyle, your vision for good health, what motivates you, and how ready you are for change. She will provide knowledge on relevant up to date evidence-based lifestyle recommendations and will suggest therapeutic interventions specific to your health complaint. Together, long term and short term SMART goals will be created, that are specific, measurable, action-oriented, realistic, and time-sensitive.
Dr. Panjwani will provide specific lifestyle prescriptions tailored to you along with methods of accountability, tracking, sustainability, and relapse prevention. Each goal achieved will build confidence and strengthen motivation as we design a lifestyle to achieve your highest potential for health and wellbeing.
- Wholesome Nutrition
- Physical Activity
- Sleep Hygiene
- Human Connections
- Stress & The Mind Body Continuum
- Avoidance of Harmful Substances
How Can The 6 Pillars Help An Individual?
It is lifestyle choices that are at the foundation of many chronic diseases – such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. Improvement and optimization of behaviors within these six domains have been well established in the prevention, management, and even reversal of chronic diseases. Chronic pain is a lifestyle-related disease. There is a definite relationship between lifestyle behaviors and musculoskeletal health. Physical inactivity, unhealthy diet, stress, and poor sleep are just a few factors associated with chronic pain, its severity, and sustainability. These lifestyle behaviors may even play a role in epigenetics, altering how a gene is expressed, further explaining its influence on disease, pain, and health. With its physiologic and molecular impact, it is clear that evidence-based lifestyle interventions optimize musculoskeletal health, and can prevent, treat, and manage pain at a foundational level.
Why does it work?
Because our six pillars address the complex biopsychosocial aspects of chronic pain disorders, that are too often overlooked in conventional care models. We have learned the hard way, that treatments relying solely on injections, surgery, and drugs have not led to better outcomes and a “quick fix” does not exist. An appropriate treatment paradigm must address all factors related to health for optimal wellness and function. Our six-pillared program does exactly this.
Dr. Panjwani uses evidence-based lifestyle interventions in a holistic approach to musculoskeletal health and pain. She takes deep dives into each of these 6 domains, uncovering root causes and contributors to a patient’s pain disorder. In collaboration with the patient, specific and sustainable lifestyle modifications are created, as key components to a patient’s individualized pain rehabilitation program.
