The UAE’s first integrative medicine hub, Wellth, endorsed by international wellness gurus Deepak Chopra and Frank Lipman, opened its doors earlier this month. Aptly named to signify true wealth, which is health and wellness, Wellth combines western medicine with time-tested healing therapies from the East to provide the best possible outcomes for patients.
With the help of a range of alternative therapies – some of them curated by Chopra and Lipman who are globally renowned for their integrative approach – the new hub offers functional medicine that treats patients holistically. In this patient-centric model, functional medicine experts use 360-degree medical and wellness knowledge to find the root cause of the disease and manage them with customised care plans.
“Functional medicine doctors don’t just treat the disease, but look at the body as a whole to find the trigger point for health imbalances,” explains Dr Khalid Shukri, a Wellth Specialist and American Board-certified physician in anti-ageing and regenerative medicine and fellow of functional and metabolic health of the American Academy of Anti-Ageing Medicine. “This is especially helpful for chronic conditions such as diabetes, rheumatic disorders and cardiac disease, as they are mostly multi-system diseases.
“For example, if someone experiences constant acidity, fatigue, stomach aches and sleeping difficulty, then they might visit four different specialists and get prescribed four different medications. However, a functional medicine expert will look at this patient and try to find the reason why all these symptoms are occurring.”
Through detailed investigations, the functional medicine expert will find the real cause of all the symptoms and treat it with an integrative approach involving alternative therapies, nutrition, stress management, supplements, lifestyle changes, and more.
To aid in this integrative approach, Wellth, managed by Medcare, has experts in traditional alternative therapies such as Ayurveda, Chinese medicine, homeopathy, reiki and yoga as well as movement therapies like chiropractic, osteopathy and physiotherapy.
While Ayurveda, Chinese medicine and homoeopathy stimulate the body’s ability to self-heal to improve immunity as well as provide pain relief and energy boost, complementary medicines such as chiropractic and osteopathy manipulate the musculoskeletal structure to reduce pain and improve sleep and overall functioning of the body.
However, Wellth’s focus is not limited to managing diseases. It takes a holistic mind-body-spirit approach to offer patients emotional and physical wellbeing through preventive medicine and anti-ageing therapies.
“Anti-ageing and cell regeneration treatments improve the quality of life of the cells by extending the health of the cells and repairing damaged tissue,” says Dr Shukri, who has extensive experience in the field. “Cell regeneration will maintain the body in a healthy state, delaying or removing the onset of diseases while allowing the body to function at optimal energy levels leading to longer happier lives. The health benefits of these treatments are vast and the effort is minimal.”
Common therapies at Wellth with anti-ageing and cell regeneration properties
Cryotherapy or cold cure, uses cold as a treatment method for damaged cells. Research has shown that unlike chronic stress, which is bad for overall health, short boosts of temperature stress are actually beneficial for the immune system and cell regeneration. What cryotherapy does is provide that small boost of temperature stress to the body by exposing it to an extreme change in temperature for a short period of time. This is a highly effective method for anti-ageing and cell regeneration.
Infrared is a painless and minimally invasive treatment that exposes the body to infrared light, which improves tissue quality, elasticity and collagen boost that regenerates cells in the body.
Ayurveda is a curative and preventive practice that creates harmony between body, mind and soul through powerful plant-based therapies. They prevent ageing disorders from taking a toll on your health.
Acupuncture stems from Chinese medicine and is based on improving the flow of energy or life through the body. It involves the insertion of very thin needles at strategic points on your body. Increasingly, it is being used for overall wellness, including stress management.
Trichology lessens, reverses and stops the greying of hair by targeting the root cause of grey hair at a cellular level.
Nutrition therapy uses food rich in antioxidants and vitamins to promote cellular anti-ageing and get rid of free radicals in the body.
Oxygen therapy stimulates collagen and elastin production in the skin, the lack of which is responsible for the ageing of the skin. It benefits the functions of other organs in the body as well.
Vitamin IV detox is designed specifically for anti-ageing. Based on patients’ vitamin and mineral imbalances that are diagnosed through the use of an Oligoscan, a special IV mixture is created and injected through a drip.
Facial lymphatic drainage helps depuff the face and body, while stimulating the growth of collagen and elastin in the skin.
