Having a clear insight into a patient’s health is vital for a clinician – the more information we can gather, the clearer the course of action. The Doctors at Vive Health begin with their patients gathering a thorough case history through active listening and inquiry of the patient. Following this time in discussion, they may then recommend specialized tests to delve more deeply into the underlying causes of a patient’s concerns. These types of tests are not available through public health care, but instead through a variety of sophisticated labs from around the world, and their added insight is often invaluable to unravelling complex or stubborn symptoms our patient’s are experiencing.

Some years ago, Drs. Patti and Colin decided that when possible, we would prefer to offer important testing services on site to simplify the process of gathering information for our patients and improve their care at a reasonable cost.

As it happens, many important measures of health are easily measured on site, so Vive Health invested in various pieces of sophisticated equipment to allow our patients easy access to some of the most important tests. As a result, we have developed an in-office testing package called the Lifestyle Impact Assessment, or LIA for short.

The Lifestyle Impact Assessment is a group of tests that measure important elements of our health that are directly impacted by our lifestyles. They provide the Doctor with baseline measurements that help identify where certain challenges or obstacles are impacting one’s ability to recover and attain better health.

The tests that we include in our LIA are:

– General Biometrics such as blood pressure, oral temperature and urinalysis.

– Konisberg Test – an indirect measure of adrenal function.

– In-Body Analysis – an in-depth measurement of body composition metrics including skeletal muscle mass, body fat percentage, visceral fat, and intra and extra-cellular water content.

– Pulsewave Analysis – evaluates the health of the circulatory system.

– Heart Rate Variability – measures one’s state of sympathetic (fight, flight, or freeze) versus parasympathetic (rest & digest) nervous system activity.

The results provided by our LIA or tests from labs worldwide is exciting to receive, because they show from where some of the origins of our troubles may stem, and in turn provide a route for treatment and ultimately resolution. As for any medical test, some may feel anxious about the results and this is ok because we are aiming to learn more about ourselves in order to facilitate steps forward in our health and well-being.

Many patients appreciate being able to have these tests re-measured after some time spent on their treatment plan.  It can show where progress is being made and can act as a good marker for what aspects of their plan is working or what needs to be revised.

The Lifestyle Impact Assessment is just another example of how Vive Health elevates the patient experience and helps one achieve optimal health.