Weboteric - Health

Alternative or Complimentary Medicine

By D F Jones

Alternative or complimentary medicine and therapies are becoming more popular as research discovers that they can make a real contribution to restoring health

Alternative medicine is a broad term for any diagnostic method, method of treatment or therapy, and products whose theoretical bases and techniques diverge from generally accepted medical methods.

Complementary medicine uses additional or alternative methods and practices alongside conventional medical treatment. Integrative medicine, as defined for USA usage by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, combines conventional medical treatments and alternative treatments for which there is some high-quality scientific evidence of their safety and effectiveness.

Practitioners of Alternative and Complimentary medical therapies should belong to a relevant regulatory body to ensure that patient safety is not compromised by inappropriate treatment.

The terms Alternative Medicine or Complimentary Medicine cover a whole range of therapies including:

• Homeopathy - Homeopathic medicine is based on three principals, that of like curing like, minimal dosage (often less than one part in a billion of water) and one remedy for many symptoms.
• Acupuncture – Acupuncture is an ancient Chinese medical therapy now being use in western medicine and often integrated with western medical techniques to provide treatments.
• Shiatsu – Shiatsu Massage is actually a combination of massage and stretching techniques evolved in the orient.
• Acupressure - Acupressure is a traditional Chinese medical  technique based on the same concepts  as acupuncture. It involves placing pressure, by hand, elbow, or with the aid of various devices, on different pressure points on the surface of the body to bring about relief through greater balance and circulation of fluids and metabolic energies in the body.
• Herbal – Herbal medicine both Chinese and Western, works by the patient taking herbs rather than pure chemical pills for an illness. It is probably the combination of various natural chemicals that results in the improved efficacy of herbal medicine.
• Faith Healing – Faith Healing is based on one individual having faith in another's ability to cure their sickness or the ability of another to channel energies, perhaps from God, to cure their illness.
• Aromatherapy - the use of volatile liquid plant materials, known as essential oils and other aromatic compounds from plants to affect someone's mood or health. The word was coined in the 1920s by French chemist René Maurice Gattefossé