Mind, Body, Spirit - September 2015

9/1/2015

Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Consumers spend over $33 billion a year on complementary and alternative medicines. What's the difference and how conventional medicine is looking at coordinating approaches for optimum health and healing
- by Christina Richardson, Ph.D.

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Do a search online for Complementary and Alternative Medicine and you will get over six million hits. There will be some valuable information on some of the pages but, oh! My! Some will just make you shake your head.

The National Institutes of Health has been doing research on (CAM) since 1999. In 2007 the National Health Interview Survey found that 38% of adults and 12% of children had used some form of CAM in the past year, at a cost of $33.9 billion out-of- pocket on CAM practices and products.

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There are two approaches to these practices:

If a non-mainstream practice is used together with conventional medicine, it is considered “complementary.”
If a non-mainstream practice in used in place of conventional medicine, it’s considered “alternative.”

Bringing conventional and complementary approaches together in a coordinated way is an integrative approach to health and wellness. For example, research is being conducted on chronic pain among active-duty military personnel and veterans to see if mindfulness meditation, self-hypnosis, or other methods are of value.

Cancer patients who are getting integrative therapies such as massage, healing touch, and yoga have less pain, anxiety and fatigue.

If you are a regular reader, you know I would not pass up the complementary medical benefits of pet therapy. In hospice and nursing home settings, stress levels are lower, depression is lessened, and mental stimulation is improved just by holding or being close to an animal.

So, listen to your doctor and if you get a go ahead, add yoga, tai-chi, massage, or some of the other complementary practices to your routine.

Download this fact sheet from the National Institutes of Health for your further consideration.