Functional Medicine
Functional medicine is a science based approach to health that looks beyond symptoms to understand what is actually driving them. Rather than asking what condition you have, we ask why your body is responding the way it is, and what needs to change for it to function the way it was designed to. At Wave Functional Health, functional medicine is not a template. It is a deeply personalised process that begins with understanding you as a complete human being, not a set of test results.
FAQs
How we assess you
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Our assessment process is one of the most comprehensive available. We do not look at individual markers in isolation because your body does not work that way. Every system in your body is connected through a complex web of cellular pathways, and understanding how those pathways interact is what allows us to find what others have missed.
What makes our approach different
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Most practitioners look at what is happening in your body right now. We look at the full arc of your health history to understand how you got here, and we map a clear path forward based on the real drivers of your condition.
We understand the web-like interconnection of every system in your body. A gut issue is rarely just a gut issue. A hormonal imbalance is rarely just a hormonal imbalance. Everything is connected, and our job is to find the thread that ties your symptoms together and address it at the root.
We do not treat your blood test. We treat you.
What tests do you need to have
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Based on your initial assessment, we may recommend further targeted testing specific to your presentation. This can include hair analysis, advanced stool testing, specialised blood panels, or additional imaging. We compare current results against previous tests to identify trends and patterns, and we always interpret findings in the context of the full picture rather than in isolation.
Who functional medicine is for
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Functional medicine at Wave is suited to people who:
Have been told their results are normal but still feel unwell
Are managing chronic, recurring, or complex health patterns
Want to understand the root cause of their symptoms rather than manage them indefinitely
Are navigating fatigue, brain fog, gut issues, hormonal concerns, autoimmune conditions, or post infection recovery
Are committed to taking an active role in their own health
We go through a comprehensive case history that goes beyond the present. We ask questions most practitioners never think to ask. Your comprehensive case history covers your full life timeline including your genetics, your mother's pregnancy, your birth, childhood health, previous surgeries, hospitalisations, viral infections, concussions, and significant life events. The answers to these questions often hold the most important clues.
Functional and clinical testing
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Heart Rate Variability
HRV measures the variation in time between each heartbeat, giving us a precise window into how your autonomic nervous system is functioning. It tells us how well your body is adapting to stress, recovering from load, and regulating itself at a physiological level. It is one of the most objective markers of overall health and resilience we have available.
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Body Impedance Analysis
BIA uses a safe, low level electrical signal to measure your body composition in detail, including muscle mass, fat distribution, hydration levels, and cellular health. This goes far beyond a standard weight measurement and gives us meaningful data about how your body is functioning at a cellular level and how it is changing over time.
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Comprehensive Physical Examination
Your body communicates what is happening internally through external signs that most practitioners overlook. We examine your skin, nails, hair, tongue, and other clinical markers that correspond directly to your symptoms and underlying physiology. These signs often reveal nutritional deficiencies, hormonal imbalances, and systemic dysfunction before they appear on standard tests.
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Neurological Examination
Your nervous system governs every function in your body. Our neurological examination assesses how your brain and nervous system are communicating, including reflexes, coordination, balance, eye movements, and sensory function. This helps us identify where neurological patterns may be contributing to your symptoms and guides the most appropriate care.
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Blood Test Analysis
We do not just look at whether your results fall inside a reference range. We analyse your blood biomarkers collectively, understanding how they relate to each other and tracking trends across time. This approach often reveals patterns that are missed when markers are assessed in isolation, and allows us to identify dysfunction well before it progresses to diagnosable disease.
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Stool Analysis
Your gut is central to virtually every aspect of your health, from immune function and hormone balance to brain health and energy production. Comprehensive stool analysis gives us a detailed picture of your microbiome, digestive function, inflammation markers, and gut integrity, helping us understand how your gut is contributing to your overall health picture.
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Imaging
Where clinically indicated, we review or refer for imaging including MRI, CT, and X-ray. Imaging allows us to assess structural integrity, rule out pathology, and understand how physical factors may be contributing to your symptoms. We interpret imaging findings in the context of your full clinical picture rather than in isolation.
How We Create Your Plan
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Physical
We assess your posture, movement patterns, joint function, and neurological integrity to identify where your structure may be contributing to your symptoms. From here we develop a physical care plan that may include chiropractic adjustments, spinal and extremity mobilisation, functional movement programming, nervous system rehabilitation exercises, and frequency specific microcurrent (FSM) therapy for targeted to specific tissues. We spend time improving your strength and endurance for quality of life. As you progress through the program we reassess your physical markers and adjust your care accordingly, ensuring each stage builds on the last.
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Lifestyle
We map out a practical lifestyle protocol based on your current daily patterns and where they are affecting your recovery. This includes a structured sleep protocol with specific timing, environment, and wind down recommendations, a daily movement plan appropriate to your current capacity, stress management techniques matched to your nervous system profile, and guidance around social, work, and personal boundaries that are contributing to your load. Every recommendation is specific, measurable, and designed to fit into your actual life.
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Environment
We conduct a thorough review of your daily environmental exposures and identify the highest priority areas to address. This may include a personalised toxin reduction protocol covering food sourcing, water filtration, personal care products, and household chemicals, guidance around reducing electromagnetic exposure in your home and workspace, recommendations around time in nature and light exposure to support circadian rhythm and nervous system regulation, and testing for heavy metal or environmental toxin load where clinically indicated. We prioritise the changes that will have the greatest impact on your specific health picture.
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Mindset
This includes breathwork and nervous system regulation techniques to shift your autonomic state, practical tools for managing chronic stress and emotional load, guidance around sleep and circadian rhythm from a psychological as well as physiological perspective, and referral to appropriate psychological support where indicated. We track how your mindset shifts correlate with changes in your physical markers throughout the program.
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Nutrition
We build a specific eating plan tailored to your biology, which may include an elimination protocol to identify food sensitivities, a gut healing dietary phase, targeted increases in specific macronutrients or micronutrients, therapeutic foods chosen for their clinical effect, and a structured supplementation plan to address identified deficiencies or support key physiological pathways.
Your plan is developed in stages so that each step builds on the last. We do not hand you a document and send you home. We work alongside you, monitor your progress, adjust the plan as your body responds, and stay accessible when you need guidance.
Ready to Get Started?
Your functional medicine journey begins with an initial consultation. This is where we take the time to understand your full picture before anything else.