Complementary Medicine
One term that many people will hear when going for treatment these days is complementary medicine, which is sometimes referred to as complementary and alternative medicine. This term represents an effort reconcile two schools of medical thought that have been in conflict for a long time.
Conventional or scientific medicine which still forms the medical scientific establishment seeks to treat all ailments through treatments based on scientific research.
Alternative healthcare incorporates non scientific notions of healing such as traditional beliefs, spirituality and folk wisdom into medicine.Until quite recently the medical establishment tended to dismiss any treatment based on traditional belief or spirituality as ignorant superstition. In recent years many physicians and other medical professionals have become more to alternative treatments. This attempt to reconcile both schools of though is complementary medicine.
Complementary Medicine Programs – An Integrative Approach to Healthcare
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plementary medicine programs offer candidates an integrative and holistic perspective to health and healing; and enable practitioners to apply this vast knowledge to already-established practices.
In addition, medical graduates who are seeking post-graduate studies find that acquiring supplemental courses like these help to enhance overall care that goes into treating patients on the whole.
With the changing times, there has been an increased interest in natural and alternative medicine treatments, which has ultimately been a major factor in the surge of complementary medicine programs now available throughout the United States and abroad. Depending on where your interest lies, there is an abundance of healing arts programs from which to choose, including in-depth training in acupuncture and Oriental medicine, chiropractic, and massage therapy, among other related fields.
The Science Of Complementary Medicine
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Four out of ten Americans were using alternative-medicine and not telling their doctors(1). Chinese herbal medicine helped people with Irritable Bowel Syndrome(2). A ketogenic diet decreased intractable seizures in children(3) But according to other researches, Echinacea extracts did not prevent upper respiratory infections(4) and chiropractic manipulations did not improve episodic-tension-type headaches.(5)
These researches may have had their own flaws. But according to another article published in British Journal of Medicine, double standards exist in judging traditional and alternative medicine.
6 In a conference in integrated medicine in London, Dr. Iain Chalmers said, “critics of complementary medicine seemed to operate a double standard”. It is thought that 60% of orthodox treatments have not been scientifically proved.(6)In 1999, a series of articles was published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) under the title-ABC of Complementary Medicine.Catherine Zollman and Andrew Vickers authored these articles. In an article in this series published in BMJ of 11 September 1999, the authors defined Complementary Medicine as ” …a group of therapeutic diagnostic disciplines that exist largely outside the institutions where conventional health care is taught and provided.