Alternative Health
Orthodox medicine for the most part is about treating symptoms. For instance if a patient has a headache then medication is prescribed so that it will no longer be felt. No significant effort is made to determine the cause of the headache in most cases. Perhaps the patient has been exposed to toxic chemicals on the job. Or perhaps the headache is a reaction to a food or chemical that has been consumed. It would seem better to treat the cause by reducing exposure to the chemcical or food rather than covering the symptoms up. Alternative and holistic medicine is more about finding and correcting the cause of health problems rather than treating the symptoms.
Examples of Alternative Medicine include:
- Nutrition
- Manipulation such as Chiropractic, Rolfing, Osteopathy
- Homeopathy
- Naturopathy
- Traditional Chinese Medicine
- Ayurveda
- Energy Medicine such as Reiki
- Mind-Body Medicine such as biofeedback, deep relaxation, guided imagery, hypnotherapy, meditation and yoga.
Complementary and Integrative medicine refer to the practice of bridging orthodox and alternative medicine. Certainly orthodox medicine has a lot to offer. For instance if you were injured in an accident your life might be saved or a disability prevented by reconstructive surgery to repair broken and splintered bones. So there is merit in integrating the best of orthodox and alternative medicine rather than rejecting either.
Although the United States is dominated by orthodox medicine times are changing. Medical schools are starting to offer courses in nutrition and other subjects that were formerly the province of alternative medicine. As consumer demand for alternatives increases and scientific studies provide more evidence of it's merits we will see a paradyn shift in health care. |
