From Health magazine
If natural medicine still sounds too alternative for you, here are four things that may help mainstream the concept for you.
It’s not so “out there”
In addition to the 38 percent of all adults in the United States who have tried natural medicine, nearly 12 percent of children have used complementary and alternative (CAM) therapies. Veterinarians use it on pets, too. “It’s not just the fringe anymore,” says Donald B. Levy, MD, medical director of the Osher Clinical Center for Complementary and Integrative Medical Therapies at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.
“It’s more widespread.” In fact, CAM is considered standard treatment in many European countries (including Germany, which regulates herbs, and France, where hospitals widely use acupuncture), so sometimes alternative treatments new to the States have already been researched and used for years abroad.
It’s a spa thing
Our strong desire to “heal” ourselves with natural medicine has made alternative therapies hot items at spas and resorts. Some treatments may sound like a wacky mix of the scientific and the spiritual—Crystal Bowl Sound Healing (at Rancho La Puerta Fitness Resort and Spa in Baja California) claims to activate alpha waves in the brain; Spirit Flight treatment (at Miraval in Tucson, Arizona) is touted as a blend of energy medicine, full-body massage, acupuncture, craniosacral therapy, and spinal alignment, along with indigenous ceremonial rituals.
But treatments like these are very popular, and an arm of the National Institutes of Health called the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) is researching their validity. In fact, you may be able to take part in a clinical trial for an alt med therapy being studied at a university near you. For information, visit the NCCAM’s Web site.
Next page: Lots of MDs use it
Comments (35)
None of these touch on the fact that out of decades of trials and studies, there is no evidence that any of it actually works.
So during a period of economic emergency, congratulate the NCCAM on wasting 121.5 million dollars of your tax money.
Franco, forget decades of trials, how about the 5,000 YEARS of proof of efficacy? Thanks for showing us all that a little (in your case, very little) knowledge is a very dangerous thing. Ayurveda, Acupuncture, and Herbal remedies have been proven throughout the ages, and you want to put NCCAM in bed with the DEADLY and much more expensive FDA and Big Pharma? Go take three Vioxx, and see ya at your funeral in the morning. P.S. congratulation on wasting MY oxygen.
5000 years of humans dying at roughly 20-40 years of age. In China, until they started using western medicine the average life expectancy was 30yrs shorter. We also had hocey-pokey bloodletting and herbal medicine in the west for 5000 years and then we discovered science and started living longer.
Actually, there are tons of studies and research – even ongoing programsby doctors – that show diseases being reversed by alternative therapies.
OK, just the bloodletting comment: Blood letting (as in donating blood) is good for you. It reduces oxidative stress (ROS) and adds YEARS to your life (unlike ANY other medical intervention which only add, maybe weeks or, rarely, months to life expectancy).
As a chiropractor and practitioner of functional diagnostic medicine, I have found over the years that there is a vast amount of research supporting alternative health care–some of which has come out in some of the top medical journals such as the journal SPINE. Most of these articles are never even seen or read by the general public, so folks just assume that valid research on alternative health care does not exist. Yet, these articles abound. I have always found it interesting that standard medical and biochemistry textbooks which describe and outline normal physiological processes never never include a pharaceutical in those processes. Those processes always involve a vitamin, mineral, fatty acid carbohydrate, or protein. Disease, then, is never a pharmaceutical deficiency.
I also find it interesting that in major medcical journals this past year, articles have been published that reveal how many standard medical procedures have little or no scientific basis or how on balance, medical care acutally causes more harm to people than good [Overtreating Chronic Back Pain: Time to Back Off? JABFM January-February 2009 Vol 22 No.1 62-68. Exploring the Harmful Effects of Health Care. JAMA, July 1, 2009. Vol. 302, No 1 89-91.] This last article states the following: “…health care contributes only about 10% toward reducing premature death…” The other factors are connected to our lifestyles and choices. I could quote many other interesting studies–some ground-breaking–that would bend your mind in several differnt ways. The point is this: Before making broad pronouncements regarding health care based on our opinions, perhaps we might want to dig a little into published research and find out some facts.
We already very well know that natrupath is the best, then why shouldn’t we adopt it. The best and having no side effects.
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Well I’m French and I don’t think any French hospital use acupuncture at all…
Where does this information comes from ?
I took my daughter to France when she was 18 months old – she almost died of botulism, since the locals sold milk made in ‘dirty vats’ to the ‘tourists’. Thanks only to natural Austrian hygiene and health practice (who saved her). Of course your hospitals don’t use acupuncture!- the country is still in the dark ages… ( but you have a beautiful name !)
Yes, alternative medicines and therapies are definitely worth exploring. There may be better treatments out there than current medical literature reflects. However, remember that just because something says “natural” on it does not mean it is without side effects. Anything you put in your body, or anything you do to your body effects the way your body works. For example, digitalis (Digoxin) is from the foxglove plant, a “natural” substance. While this drug has it’s purposes in cardiac disease, it has side effects.
Anything that sounds to good to be true probably is.
I have horrid back paoin from discs gone, bludging or just deteriorating, my doctor told me to try yoga. I have and it is a slow process but definatly working I didnt think I could do yoga so I never thought about it. I have more days off pain meds than on them something I never thought I would see, a day without pain medication.
Not only are these modalities becoming more common, they are often the only thing that brings relief to many people whom our mainstream medical system has failed. I am a “community acupuncturist” in a small town and I am booked solid because people are looking for a way to feel better that doesn’t include more pills and more surgeries. We have found that more and more people want to take responsibility for their own health. We charge a sliding scale so that acupuncture can be affordable to more people, and the response is overwhelming. These modalities are not a replacement for their doctor, but they are regaining a sense of empowerment in their health as they realize that their bodies really can heal without severe and often dangerous interventions.
For more on community acupuncture, check out http://www.communityacupuncture.org
I am sceptical about alternative health care practitioners, yet after a major disc protrusion at L5-S1 with nerve impingement ( pain got to be my daily companion) I went to physios, masseurs, chiropractors – they always made me feel great ‘at the time”, yet the moment I got up to walk away, I was in worse pain, because they ‘unlocked’ the protective attempts my body made to reduce pain. I went to an acupuncturist, who stuck his needles in, and added some herbs or incense, and I could actually (for the first time) pinpoint and feel the exact area of pain. He reduced the pain, and I felt great for over a week. When I went back, the acupuncturist had been ‘removed’ ( he took too many patients away from the regular doctors who worked there!). I refused surgery, met a crazy Egyptian-born Aussie, who told me that to fix lower back pain, I needed upper body exercises. I now lift more weight than before the injury. I still get occasional pain (bending or lifting wrong occasionally) but remain intact.
I just began taking a Bikram yoga class in NYC. I am amazed with how I feel after this very intense, heated workout. I feel clean, alert, alive and like a new person. I can’t recommend this enough.
I think if we began teaching yoga to youth, our world would be a better place. There is a definite mind/body connection. And the root of health in our bodies is in movement.
Quote: “But treatments like these are very popular, and an arm of the National Institutes of Health called the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) is researching their validity.”
Well, yes, that’s true. They’ve researched all of this for over 10 years and they’ve found that exactly NONE of the “alternatives” work. Acupuncture doesn’t work, reiki doesn’t work, theraputic touch doesn’t work, echinasia doesn’t work. I could go on.
Don’t waste your time or very valuable money. Eat whole foods, excercise, rest. Go to the doctor once a year for a check up. Take medicines as prescribed to correct problems (from an infection to high cholesterol).
i’ve read some comments that are completely unsupportive of alternative health treatments. interstingly enough, studies have shown where people have shown improvements in health while being treated with placebos- how can we say that these treatments DONT WORK? admittedly it is very hard to accurately track their effects because there are so many variables and little tangible evidence to collect. the bottom line is that people feel better- whether it be mental or physical- and in terms of health, that is a very valid and viable argument.
I don’t know of any one who was helped much by acupuncture but I have changed my diet and lifestyle and have taken natural whole food supplements. I also use essential oils and aromatherapy. I have lowered my cholesterol over 30 pts. by eating less animal foods and exercising. I rarely get sick and never have to use antibiotics except after minor surgery. All my numbers are normal. By the way, I have an autoimmune disease, AMD and am over 70.
I can attest to the efficacy of acupuncture – I have used it successfully for 40 years in treating
1. dysmenorrhea (pain,heavy flow,& mood)
2. back pain – excruciating back pain.
3. depression
4. food insensitivity
5. sinus – gets me off of daily Afrin use for at least 6 months.
6. tension headaches & migraines
Yes, I’m a believer – I’ve seen it work on others as well. You also have to take bio-individuality into consideration as well as attitude. I’ve taken oxycontin and it hasn’t worked for me, but acupuncture does. So does chiropractic, which many boo-hoo even though the AMA has admitted that it works better than anything in their arsenal for fast, effective, lasting relief.
And as you take the highly researched and highly priced, over-advertised medications, listen very carefully to the laundry list of side-affects they quickly tell you about after you have watched the smiling, well dressed woman tiptoe thru the filed of yellow daisies……get my point?
I am looking forward to alternative or complementary or integrative care, organic menus, and natural healthy environments in senior care facilities.
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Organic remedies for many things have been hyped up a lot lately as well… Something people don’t realize though is that plants like wasabi can also aid in bone calcification, help prevent certain types of cancer, and provide certain amounts of vitamins and minerals one wouldn’t normally aquire on he or she’s daily diet. See for yourself at .
My experience is that none of the alternative therapies work without proper eating and fasting—fasting, especially. Air, sunshine, and the use of water for healing completes the picture. Things become complicated, however, when vital energy is very weak in the patient.
You can’t deny the undeniable benefits of natural medicine.
The main points of this article are that lots of people are doing it and you might be able to get someone else to pay for it. But where is the scientific evidence (double-blind, placebo-controlled, statistically significant) that they actually work? Nearly every time one of these alternative therapies is put to a rigorous test, it fails.
It’s a bunch of bunk, your mind will believe want you want it to. No hard proof this is worth my time.
I believe in accupuncture. In 83, I had shoulder pain and taking medicine did not help. It was getting worse. I tried accupuncture and am pain free since then. I had 5 sesssions and the pain was gone. If similar pain would occur again, I would not even try medicine, would directly go a good doctor and do accupuncture.
I have read proof that acupuncture is bunk, and wasn’t really practiced for 5000 years in China. That it ‘was’ is brilliant marketing since the 1930’s. Their original acupuncture was to shoot you with arrows! But, I prolapsed vertebra L5-S1 (markedly) and was in severe pain. Physios and chiropractors were basically useless, and the modern-medicine analgesics almost as useless. When having acupuncture by an Indian prcatitioner (swap the a with the c) I had immediate relief, which lasted. There was no “faith healing” involved as I am still a sceptic in most treatments. I refused surgery, and now lift heavier weights than before the injury. I’m 187cm tall and 95kg, so obesity (=self-inflicted suicide)wasn’tinvolved.
Americans are flocking to alternative health professionals in increasing numbers because conventional medicine — while great for emergencies such as broken bones and most infections — isn’t very good at coping with what ails most of us, which is chronic ailments such as indigestion, arthritis and fatigue.
The only answer our well-meaning docs have is drugs for which we pay a high cost both from our pocket books and side effects. Meanwhile, help with lifestyle changes and natural remedies can restore optimal health to most of us.
Virginia Hopkins
co-author, Prescription Alternatives
no cmment
as i see it ..if a person feels these things work …if its yoga or green tea….i say anything that gives you piece of mind is worth trying….
to dave, this is the best advice, better than all these others
If it makes you feel better, and you can afford it, go for it. But don’t expect alternative medicine to cure cancer, heal an abused heart, mend a broken arm, etc.
eddierok is right! “Get Fit”
If you smoke; if you drink coca cola or any other soft drinks; if you eat any ‘domesticated’ meat (beef,lamb,pork,chicken) then it has been most likely loaded with hormones and antibiotics; if you drink cow milk (especially pasteurised) or take dairy products; if you take any processed sugar; if you eat any processed grains (especially American); if you wear clothes that were made in China or Indonesia (where the clolours run when washed), thus you will be absorbing the textile chemicals while wearing them; if you eat fruit and vegetables that weren’t picked within the last 7 days (so forget supermarket stuff!);if you microwave vegetables;if you don’t walk at least 45 minutes a day ( outside!- not in front of the TV! – ps walk at a beach or in areas with trees and few cars!); if you shower in chlorinated water (buy a filter that stops the chlorine!);if you brush your teeth with fluoride (one of the world’s deadliest toxins!); if you sleep on sheets (or wear clothes)washed in todays toxic washpowders; ..etc …. then you are pushing your luck anyway! If you work with batteries, coal, metal, chemicals, then you are constantly decreasing your survival chances; if you are overweight (FAT) – fat cells absorb and hold huge amounts of toxins and heavy metals….; then why worry about health, as you are basically rowing a boat with a foot-wide hole in it and having only a table spoon to bail out the water with! Get SMART! (see http://www.bernhardracz.com – it’s free!), get healthy; at least save your children if you don’t care about yourself!
It’s obviuose we all need something diffent to make us feel better. Some Yoga, some natural medicines and some perscriptive. The important thing is that if what you are taking doesn’t work, there are other options to choose from. If it does work for you, Great!