Meet Dr. Julia Ireland
Doctor of Osteopathy
Julia Ireland, D.O. is a licensed physician, board certified in Family Medicine. Having always applied integrative approaches during her years in public health treating HIV and Women's Health, she is now in private practice, applying her expertise in medicine, epidemiology, and osteopathic manipulation, to personalized adult care for complex problems. Julia loves being able to take the time with patients to analyze and address complex and chronic health issues when standard medicine fails. She also provides personalized, precision preventive care to maximize health and vitality throughout one's life; and she provides second opinions for patients who arrive with lots of testing and consults having been done, but no clear answers to their health challenges. Her practice picks up where Primary Care and narrowly focused specialists leave off in tracking down root causes.
Why Functional Medicine & Osteopathy?
Functional Medicine addresses root causes ...
Digestion
Advanced testing methods of the gut microbiome combined with looking at your history of diet, antibiotic use, infections, etc., allows us to develop a plan to improve digestive health.
Fatigue
We look at all aspects of your life (diet, exercise, sleep, stress, supportive connections, recreation) and we test for nutritional, hormonal, and metabolic deficiencies to target ways to improve vitality and endurance.
Detoxification
Depending on the type of toxins you were exposed to in the past or encounter now, we develop a plan to support your body in lowering its toxic burden and avoiding future uptake of toxins.
Women's Health
Diet, exercise, stress, medications, and contraceptive methods can all impact hormonal function and women's overall health and wellbeing. During the peri-menopausal years (which can start in one's late 30's) hormonal shifts can be measured and supported as well, to improve both present health and contribute to healthy aging relative to bone, brain and heart health.
Stress
Working with stress is part of the balancing act that is life. The hormone cortisol is supposed to be secreted in response to normal (manageable) amounts of daily stress. Cortisol influences the entire endocrine system and, sugar metabolism. Our sugar cravings, emotional well-being, immunity and weight are all affected. Extreme or prolonged elevations are unhealthy. We measure cortisol secretion throughout the day. We suggest lifestyle modifications (exercise, relaxation techniques, diet, support for rejuvenating sleep), herbs & hormones targeted to treat cortisol excess or deficiencies.
Weight Loss
All the aspects of life that affect fatigue likewise affect weight: diet, exercise, stress, sleep, happiness. Even your intestinal inhabitants affect your weight. Your intestinal microbiome's bacterial and yeast cells are many times more numerous than all the cells of our bodies. We address all these contributors to wellness in a personalized and scientifically rigorous method.
Osteopathy addresses the dynamic nature of body structure.
We usually think of bones as hard and static, but they are constantly remodeling, flexible, and can heal without scars when healthy. Osteopathic physicians are trained to address and support the dynamic, changeable, and self-healing capacities of body structures through hands-on manipulation of bones and soft tissues. Osteopathic physicians in the United States receive the same training standard medical subjects as M.D.s. Osteopathic physicians are likewise licensed by each state in a manner similar to M.D. ("Medical Doctor") licensing. Osteopathic physicians serve in hospitals, clinics, and the military alongside M.D.s. Some osteopaths, like Dr. Ireland, continue to incorporate manipulative treatments into their medical pracitices in order to address medical issues not effectively treated by medicines or surgery alone.
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Osteopathic manipulation can address a wide range of issues from pain syndromes to sports performance and physiological functioning. In particular, Dr. Ireland uses cranial osteopathy to treat ear and sinus issues and post-concussion problems when these problems are not successfully addressed and resolved through standard medical care.
Osteopathic Manipulation treats...
Pain
Body alignment can play a key role in pain syndromes. Likewise, tensions or scarring within tissues will adversely affect fluid exchanges and distribution that contribute to lots of types of pain from headaches to joint pain increased by edema.
Fatigue
Poor posture and inefficient body mechanics can compromise gait, rib motion, oxygen exchange, and other mechanical and physiologic functions that contribute to low energy.
Detoxification
Proper breathing mechanics (including rib and diaphragm motions) and soft tissue performance (allowing for appropriate fluid movement and chemical exchanges of nutrients and toxins) contribute to detoxification processes.
Headaches
There are many causes for recurrent headaches, including mechanical compromises to blood flow and fluid exchanges, nerve impingements, and excessive muscular tension.
Jaw Alignment
The lower jaw's joint, just in front of the ear (the temporomandibular joint, "TMJ"), along with jaw pain, teeth grinding, and dental occlusion ("bite") can all be treated by osteopathic manipulation.
Hormones
Like all other tissues, endocrine glands, in particular the thyroid and pituitary, are sensitive to position and pressures on them directly, as well as to pressures on the nerves and blood vessels that supply them. All these pressures and relationships can be influenced by osteopathic manipulation.
Vision
Vision is affected by everything from the shape of the eyeball and lens, to the blood and nerve flow within and around the eye. The position and pressures of the bones and soft tissues surrounding each eye can be influenced by osteopathic manipulation.
Services
Healthier Starts Here
Contact Info
Phone
Address
323-807-1049
490 Post Street, Suite 1703, San Francisco, CA 94102