Functional Medicine for Student Athletes
Performance Programs for High School Athletes in Columbus, Ohio
High school athletes are constantly on their grind. They train, they compete, they study, they push. But effort alone doesn’t always close the gap between where you are and where you’re capable of being.
Our team offers functional medicine for student athletes in Columbus, Ohio, and their families to identify the root causes of underperformance. Sleep issues. Nutrition gaps. Gut dysfunction. Inflammatory patterns. Anything that holds even the most disciplined athletes back. This is precision health for competitors who want every advantage. And for the parents, coaches and teachers who want them to have it.
KEY CLINICAL TAKEAWAYS
- Who This Is For: High school athletes, along with the parents, coaches & teachers supporting them; anyone ready to go beyond the standard sports physical & invest in a genuine, root-cause performance edge.
- What We Do: Personalized functional medicine programs built around curated diagnostic testing, nutrition optimization & gut health, each calibrated to the specific demands of competitive high school athletic performance.
- Community Commitment: As a proud partner of the Dublin Education Foundation, we’re embedded in the Dublin City Schools community & invested in the long-term wellness of its student athletes, families & educators.
MORE INSIGHT
What's Actually Holding You Back?
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Sleep Quality & Recovery
Poor sleep disrupts the recovery cycles your muscles and nervous system depend on to adapt after training. Consistent underperformance in the gym begins the night before.
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Nutrition Timing & Macro Imbalance
Eating “healthy” is great, but mistimed meals and uneven macronutrient distribution can quietly limit energy output, focus and endurance — even in athletes with strong overall diets.
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Unidentified Food Sensitivities
Food sensitivities create low-grade inflammation that drains energy, clouds focus and slows recovery without ever producing an obvious reaction. Many athletes carry them for years without knowing.
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Training Load Misalignment
A program that doesn’t take into consideration the individual athlete’s physiology can produce diminishing returns. It can also increase injury risk without the athlete, the parent or the coach knowing why.
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Gut Health & Nutrient Absorption
Even a well-designed diet underperforms when the gut isn’t absorbing nutrients efficiently. GI dysfunction is one of the most commonly overlooked (and most easily correctable) performance variables.
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Game-Day Anxiety & Mental Performance
Nervousness. Mental fatigue. Performance anxiety. They are psychological and physiological. Root-cause functional medicine interventions can meaningfully improve an athlete’s ability to perform under pressure.
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Underlying Hormone Dysregulation
Too little or too much of a specific hormone (like cortisol, diabetes, androgens and growth hormones) can have downstream effects on metabolism, mood, strength and more.
Meet Marguerite Weston, MD, IFMCP
Dr. Weston Gets It — Because She Has Lived It
She is both a double board-certified physician in Family and Sports Medicine and a former collegiate soccer player. Dr. Weston brings a rare combination of competitive experience and clinical depth to every athlete she works with. She knows what it feels like to want more from your body.
And she knows exactly how to find what’s standing in the way.
The Approach: Proactive, Personalized & Preventive
When it comes to student athlete performance programs, Dr. Weston is driven by one core conviction: the most powerful intervention is the one that never has to happen. That’s why everything is about you. Your history. Your lifestyle. Your comfort and your future.
She has earned Columbus Monthly’s Top Doctor recognition every year since 2019. She leads a team of functional medicine specialists whose combined expertise spans nutrition science, gut health, functional movement and women’s athletic performance.
MORE INSIGHT
Your Full Medicine Functional Roster
Colleen Bush, RDN, LDN, IFNCP
Nutrition & Gut Health Specialist
A former collegiate volleyball player turned registered functional dietitian, Colleen knows firsthand that athletic nutrition can’t be one-size-fits-all. She builds personalized nutrition plans that fit real schedules and real food preferences. Because the most effective plan is the one an athlete will actually follow each day.
A former collegiate volleyball player turned registered functional dietitian, Colleen knows firsthand that athletic nutrition can’t be one-size-fits-all. She builds personalized nutrition plans that fit real schedules and real food preferences. Because the most effective plan is the one an athlete will actually follow each day.
Tricia Granchi, MSN, FNP-C
Functional Expert & CrossFit Athlete
Tricia is an active CrossFit athlete with more than five years under the bar. She brings the kind of lived performance insight to functional medicine that most providers simply don’t have. She specializes in athletic nutrition, gut health optimization and using intentional movement as medicine.
Tricia is an active CrossFit athlete with more than five years under the bar. She brings the kind of lived performance insight to functional medicine that most providers simply don’t have. She specializes in athletic nutrition, gut health optimization and using intentional movement as medicine.
Courtney Gilbert, MSPAS, PA-C
Women's Health Specialist
Courtney helps female athletes understand how hormonal patterns influence energy, endurance and recovery. With more than a decade of experience in urogynecology and advanced functional medicine training, she brings a clinical depth to women’s health that directly supports performance goals at every level of competition.
Courtney helps female athletes understand how hormonal patterns influence energy, endurance and recovery. With more than a decade of experience in urogynecology and advanced functional medicine training, she brings a clinical depth to women’s health that directly supports performance goals at every level of competition.
In The Community
Our Partnership With The Dublin Education Foundation
We are a proud partner of the Dublin Education Foundation, the organization dedicated to enriching innovative learning across Dublin City Schools through grants, programs and community collaboration.
“Strong Parents & Teachers Raise Strong Students”
Our partnership is built on a shared conviction: that investing in the health of our student-athletes and the adults closest to Dublin’s students sends a direct ripple effect into every classroom, every locker room and every household where the next generation is being shaped.
For Dublin’s student athletes, that means access to a functional medicine team already embedded in their community. Already committed to their development. And unwilling to sit by while preventable health gaps quietly limit what they’re capable of.
Individualized Athletic Optimization
How We Help Student Athletes Perform at Their Peak
Curated Diagnostic Testing
Standard sports physicals check the basics. We go deeper. Through GI-MAP testing, food sensitivity panels and trace element analysis, we identify the cellular-level patterns affecting energy, recovery and inflammation. These are all variables most providers never look for and standard labs never catch.
Standard sports physicals check the basics. We go deeper. Through GI-MAP testing, food sensitivity panels and trace element analysis, we identify the cellular-level patterns affecting energy, recovery and inflammation. These are all variables most providers never look for and standard labs never catch.
Personalized Nutrition Planning
There is no universal “performance diet.” Our functional dietitian builds nutrition plans around each athlete’s specific schedule, food preferences and performance demands. She covers everything from meal timing, macro balance and game-day fueling protocols that work in real life, not just on paper.
There is no universal “performance diet.” Our functional dietitian builds nutrition plans around each athlete’s specific schedule, food preferences and performance demands. She covers everything from meal timing, macro balance and game-day fueling protocols that work in real life, not just on paper.
Gut Health Support
Gut dysfunction is one of the most underdiagnosed performance limiters in young athletes. Poor absorption, GI discomfort and low-grade inflammation all originate in the gut. And they all respond to targeted, root-cause functional medicine interventions that go well beyond the standard boilerplate advice.
Gut dysfunction is one of the most underdiagnosed performance limiters in young athletes. Poor absorption, GI discomfort and low-grade inflammation all originate in the gut. And they all respond to targeted, root-cause functional medicine interventions that go well beyond the standard boilerplate advice.
FAQs About Functional Medicine Programs for Student Athletes
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This is a personalized, root-cause approach to optimizing athletic performance. Rather than addressing symptoms or injuries after they surface, our providers identify the underlying nutritional, metabolic and physiological patterns that limit energy, recovery, focus and endurance.Through comprehensive diagnostic testing, collaboration with each patient and individualized treatment plans, we help high school athletes perform at a level their standard care was never designed to reach.
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Several of the most impactful performance variables are ones that a standard sports physical never evaluates.
These Often Include:
- Food sensitivities that generate chronic low-grade inflammation and have some negative impact on mental health
- Trace mineral deficiencies that affect muscle function and energy production
- Toxic load assessments to discover potential environmental factors, such as heavy metal toxicity and harmful internal metabolic byproducts
- Hormone imbalances, including cortisol dysregulation, thyroid dysfunction and improper insulin responses
- Gut absorption inefficiencies that limit what the body can actually use from a well-designed diet
- Sleep architecture that prevents proper recovery and the physiological contributors to game-day anxiety
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Each athlete is different. They have their own unique concerns and factors that may be holding them back, so all testing is curated to that particular patient. These tests provide us with a snapshot of health that is vital for designing a plan for maximum performance.
That said, the following are the most common diagnostic tests we employ:
- GI-MAP testing to evaluate gut microbiome health and digestive function
- Food sensitivity panels to identify inflammatory triggers that may be limiting recovery and concentration
- Trace element testing to assess mineral levels at a cellular level
- Vitamin deficiency testing to uncover any standard gaps in nutrition (protein, vitamin D, magnesium and more)
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You are likely a strong candidate if you are an Ohio high school athlete who trains consistently but isn’t performing at the level your effort should reflect. Athletes who experience persistent fatigue, irregular digestion, poor sleep, difficulty concentrating during competition or prolonged recovery times often benefit significantly from a functional medicine evaluation.You do not need a diagnosis or a specific complaint to get started. Curiosity and a genuine commitment to performing better are more than enough.
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Yes. Parents and caretakers can be involved as much or as little as the athlete and family prefer. We work closely with parents who want to be active participants in the process and are equally comfortable working directly with athletes who prefer more independence.We also collaborate with existing care providers, coaches and athletic trainers to ensure our recommendations integrate seamlessly with whatever support structure the athlete already has in place.
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We do not, and it is worth explaining why.Insurance coverage determines which tests can be ordered, how much time a provider can spend with you and which interventions are considered “medically necessary.” That framework works reasonably well for acute illness.For performance optimization, it puts our providers in a box that isn’t compatible with the depth of care we want to offer. Without those restrictions, we can run the tests that are actually relevant to your performance, spend the time your case genuinely requires and build a protocol around what the data shows. You are not limited by what a coverage policy permits.
A Worthwhile Investment in Wellness & Performance
Most athletes and families find that the specificity and clarity of a functional medicine program are well worth the investment. To help lower the barrier of access to elevated healthcare, we offer several advantageous financing and payment plans.
Have Questions About Our Student Athlete Programs?
Our functional medicine team is ready to meet you where you are, no matter if you are a high school student athlete ready to close the gap, a parent investing in your child’s performance or a coach exploring options for your roster.
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