alternative medicine essay

alternative medicine essay

Exploring the Efficacy and Controversies of Alternative Medicine

1. Introduction to Alternative Medicine

Alternative or complementary medicine is not a recent phenomenon; in point of fact, it is the type of health care used long before the scientific-based medicine of today. To this day, more than 80% of the world’s population still practice traditional healing or indigenous medicine as their primary form of health care. While alternative medicine is only now experiencing a reawakening, it is not unique in its placement alongside scientific-based medicine. Throughout history, it has been practiced by Americans as well. Between the time of the Revolution and the Civil War, it was one of America’s leading edge institutions. Smallpox inoculation and other epidemic control through serums and vaccines kept the incidence of certain diseases at low levels, while expectant management of rabies and tetanus, judiciously rest conscious and intelligent nutrition controlled diabetes, arthritis, coronary insufficiency, and a host of other chronic diseases, while expectancy of life and an unplagued old age characterized a healthy situation.

This paper will examine alternative medicine and its varied categories, to include a discussion of its efficacy, safety, and use. By examining these varied aspects of alternative medicine, the reader will have a more in-depth working knowledge of what alternative medicine is and how individuals use it as another method of healthcare management. Because the number of Americans using alternative medicine treatment is substantial, it behooves both practitioners of regular medicine and those who practice alternative medicine (called practitioners) to understand and work together for the health and welfare of their patients or clients. With this in mind, both categories of medicine can be effectively utilized for the betterment of health in general and for the health of the individual in particular.

2. Types of Alternative Medicine Practices

Ayurveda, the significant therapeutic practice of India, is a holistic practice that is directed within the cognitive sphere of the patient and not the disease alone. As an ayurvedic physician uses the patient’s environment, body, and mind as a single healing field. Herbal medicine deals with the use of plants, roots, berries, and barks for medical purposes. The combination of the healing powers of the herbs is used for the cure of a variety of diseases. Today, the use of herbs is common throughout Western Europe and Asia as they were thousands of years ago. Shiatsu is the Japanese form of acupressure using the hands instead of needles. Unani was introduced in India by the Muslims. Siddha, the ancient Tamil healing tradition, developed in India during the Chola dynasty. Commenting on the pranayama, it is the Indian name for the control of breath, something which is supposed to be instrumental in the mental and physical purification of the self. These various forms of alternative living have been a part of Indian and other traditions for thousands of years. The endpoint of this diversity to the American environment has created a current of alternative medicine.

Alternative medicine is classified into a variety of specialized practices. The most prominently accepted among them include acupuncture, ayurveda, homeopathy, naturopathy, shiatsu, herbal therapies, unani, siddha, and pranayama. Acupuncture is a therapeutic practice that treats health problems by puncturing certain locations of the body. It originated in China and has been used for more than 2,000 years. Acupuncture is based on the premise that there are patterns of energies flowing in and around the human body. Disease is believed to result from an imbalance in these energies. Homeopathy treats the symptoms with minute doses of natural substances that bilaterally mimic the symptoms of illness in a healthy person. Naturopathy presumes that if “toxins” are in some manner “removed” (such as purging, fasting, and other nonpharmacological means), then the body’s “vital force” will heal the body. Naturopathy traditionally split toxins into five categories. A toxin is needed for each bodily system before cleanup can begin.

3. Scientific Evidence and Research on Alternative Medicine

Review data of complementary and alternative medicine, such as acupuncture, biofeedback, diet, etc., are collected and analyzed within the auspices of mainstream health sciences research institutions. Independent firms, vocational DACRBs, associations of complementary/alternative or integrative practices, councils for continuing education of practitioners, and independent experts treat patients and publish in mainstream health care journals. In the scientific evaluation, there are high numbers of instances of generally positive and potentially useful activity either reported or occurring currently in complementary/alternative medicine. In respect to RCT study support, over the long-term, the combined U.S. NHM Research Data Bases (NATR, AHCT), and other study sources have shown that alternative and mainstream institutions are responsive to patient, provider, insurers, and others’ desire for proper scientific evaluation and documentation of successful treatments and possible surrogates. They have investigated popular and promising complementary and alternative therapy modalities important in health promotion, disease prevention, and health restorative discharge planning. Their studies focused on improving the scientific foundation for integration but also support parallel systems.

The assessments of thousands of research articles and experiments on alternative medicine and various alternative therapies over the past two decades have established that many of the modalities in common use are indeed effective. The number and quality of these studies has increased markedly since the early 1980s and investment in the scientific evaluation of alternative medicine has risen sharply since the early 1990s. Virtually all alternative and most mainstream institutions committed to the scientific evaluation of health care have provided grants, contracts, and support in one form or another to increase the body of scientifically-based knowledge on these drugs. Moreover, major advances in the areas of acupuncture, chiropractic, and some nutritional research have either bolstered traditional claims or provided a modern scientific understanding of their efficacy in reported activity.

4. Controversies Surrounding Alternative Medicine

Another illustrative story is that of kinesiology, which is sometimes associated with homeopathy. The real story of kinesiology is a split between the therapists and the inventors of the original theory. The original kinesiological hypothesis states that muscular function runs parallel to (invisible) energy channels moving throughout the body. Tensing parts of muscle A while holding a strong muscle B strong will disturb this energy channel. The new kinesiology, in contrast, emphasizes dowsing and quick muscle tests. Today’s therapists have simplified a scientific theory based on ‘muscle tests’ of loose values and devoid of scientific documentation. They resort to anecdotal evidence and rely on personal stories of people who have apparently been cured of all that seems uncurable. However, none of the common kinesiological treatments include physical examination or data that would point to actual malfunctions of the muscle. In contrast, homeopathy maintains plausible explanations of the thought processes behind the symptoms and treatments in terms of doses, prolongation, or time.

Shiatsu and other forms of manipulation are based on the power of suggestion or the so-called “placebo effect”. The body, which is billions of years old in a genetic sense, has many reflexes and feedback loops that have not yet been fully explored. This lack of knowledge could lead street-smart scammers to falsely attribute illnesses and cures to physiological processes or mechanisms that they cannot fully explain. If true cures cannot be effectively explained by alternative therapists, a modest dose of skepticism certainly helps to separate scams from the countless colds, ‘mouse arm’, and other conditions where alternative treatments have a history of success.

5. Conclusion and Future Directions

Alternative medicine flourishes because the market is not providing the relief sufferers expect. Diseases such as autoimmune diseases have been difficult to treat, both for TCM and Western medicine. When the market finally develops and validates appropriate technology, consumers will most likely seek allopathic relief. The questions will remain: “What are the limits of our self-healing mechanism and to what extent do we have the right to interfere with nature? What alternative therapy do we have for chronic incurable diseases? What we need is a sound theoretical and methodological basis for the evaluation of TCM in cases of established disease.” In the meantime, both TCM and allopathic practitioners can help maintain or restore well-being through methods that are not likely to produce lasting harm. Therefore, as long as these practices adhere to acceptable standards of safety and efficacy, their burgeoning use should be a matter of public health concern rather than political discussion.

In this paper, we have reviewed existing literature on alternative medicine efficacy and controversies. Alternative medicine is flourishing in both Western and Eastern countries. Consumers embrace an alternative approach with hope that they can empower themselves to seek better health. Both TCM and other alternative medicine providers have important roles to play in modern public health systems. Traditional therapies are often used in conjunction with modern systems of healing, resulting in symptom relief and better health. Since data for TCM from available publications show beneficial effects, including those from randomized trials and well-designed non-randomized trials, we recommend systematic evaluations to better understand TCM efficacy.