Alternative Medicine

Alternative Medicine – what is it ?

In the fast pace of today’s world where everybody is under constant pressure, people are now taking more interest in maintaining good health and well-being. There is general concern about disease and the environment: in particular how pollutants are affecting our health, and the way in which pesticides or contaminated animal feeds are affecting the vegetables and meat we eat in our daily diet. Adults and children also seem to be developing more allergic reactions to food and general pollutants in the environment, and diseases such as asthma are now particularly affecting children. One theory is that childhood asthma is on the increase because of increased traffic fumes, and also dust mites that are present in everybody’s homes.

People are also developing an increasing resistance to antibodies given to treat different infections and are investigating alternative healthcare treatments that will help to build up their immune systems. There are also new diseases, such as Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, which can start after a viral infection, that have arisen over the last 10-15 years. There is no cure at present for ME, however, alternative healthcare treatments such as aromatherapy, Western herbalism and nutritional therapy have been found to help sufferers by improving and balancing their general diet and boosting their immune systems, which are at very low ebb.

In the more caring Nineties, people are having to work harder, often juggling work and children, and are suffering more stress because of it. But today they are more willing to undertake holistic therapies such as yoga, tai chi and massage to help them cope with tension and overwork by relaxing both their bodies and minds.

Alternative therapies are definitely becoming popular. In fact, in recent research it was discovered that eight out of ten people had tried a treatment and three- quarters of them reported that it had either helped or cured them. Doctors are also becoming more aware of the benefits of alternative health therapies when orthodox treatment alone does not seem to work. In fact, they will now often refer a patient to an osteopath or chiropractor, for example, for manipulation of a back problem that is proving difficult to resolve. Some doctors are also trained in an alternative therapy, such as homeopathy, and this treatment is now becoming more widely available.

Different Alternative Therapies

Alternative health treatments can do so much to improve a person’s mental attitude and to help or cure various ailments, but in case of serious or terminal illness only certain therapies will be suitable and should never be undertaken instead of orthodox treatment, but rather alongside it. Acupuncture, for example, can greatly boost the immune systems of cancer or HIV patients while also improving their overall mental attitude and their general perspective of their disease.

Alternative medicine has been defined as “therapeutic or preventive health care practices, such as Homeopathy, Naturopathy, Chiropractic, and Herbal Medicine, that do not follow generally accepted medical methods and may not have a scientific explanation for their effectiveness.”

Alternative medicines may therefore incorporate spiritual, metaphysical, or religious underpinnings, untested practices, pre-modern or non-western medical traditions, or newly developed approaches to healing. If an alternative medical approach, initially untested, is subsequently shown to be safe and effective, it may then be adopted by conventional practitioners and no longer considered “alternative”.

Alternative medicine” is often categorized together with complementary medicine using the umbrella term Complementary and alternative medicine or CAM.

In 2002, the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) Section staff of the National Library of Medicine classifies alternative medicine under the term complementary therapies. This is defined as therapeutic practices which are not currently considered an integral part of conventional allopathic medical practice. They may lack biomedical explanations but as they become better researched some, such as physical therapy, diet, and acupuncture, become widely accepted whereas others, such as humors or radium therapy, quietly fade away, yet are important historical footnotes. Therapies are termed as Complementary when used in addition to conventional treatments and as Alternative when used instead of conventional treatment.

The Panel on Definition and Description, CAM Research Methodology Conference, Office of Alternative Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, April 1995 defined complementary and alternative medicine as a broad domain of healing resources that encompasses all health systems, modalities, and practices and their accompanying theories and beliefs, other than those intrinsic to the politically dominant health system of a particular society or culture in a given historical period. CAM includes all such practices and ideas self-defined by their users as preventing or treating illness or promoting health and well being. Boundaries within CAM and between CAM domain and the domain of the dominant system are not always sharp or fixed.

Alternative therapies include, but are not limited to the following disciplines: folk medicine, herbal medicine, diet fads, homeopathy, faith healing, new age healing, chiropractic, acupuncture, naturopathy, massage, and music therapy.