Alternative Medicine

Medicine New Perspectives

Typically people reach to Western medicine to cure and prevent deceases, but an increasing number of individuals are now looking for different medicine options to fill the gaps in Western medicine. Therefore, complementary therapies are increasing popularity in the Unites states according to a JAMA article published 1999; 40% of the American population used at least one kind of a complementary alternative medicine (CAM). According to the National center for Alternatives and Complementary therapies. Practices are broken down into four different areas including: biological based practices, manipulative and body based therapies, mind and body interventions, and energy therapies.

In her article for Kids Health in 2009, Larissa Hirsch describes Biological based therapies as "practices that involve supplementing a person's normal diet with additional nutrients, herbs, extracts, and certain foods". Daily rituals such as taking vitamins or drinking tea form part of the Biological based practices. As part of the Biological based therapies Chinese herbal therapies contains "hundreds of medicinal substances extracted from plants, but also some minerals and animal products. Classified by their perceived action in the body. Different parts of plants such as the leaves, roots, stems, flowers, and seeds are used. Usually, herbs are combined in formulas and given as teas, capsules, tinctures, or powders"(NCCAM). Herbal therapies can be tremendously effective in deceases such as cancer, heart disease, depression, diabetes, osteoarthritis, and AIDS, among others.

Chiropractors and massage therapist are place in the Manipulative and body based therapies category. These practices consist in stimulating the body system by understanding its structure. "Chiropractic is a health care profession that focuses on disorders of the musculoskeletal system and the nervous system, and the effects of these disorders on general health" (ACA, 1). Common uses for Chiropractic therapy are back pain, arms and join pain, headache, among others. This does not means that chiropractors are limited to only help this deceases. "Doctors of Chiropractic practice a drug-free, hands-on approach to health care that includes patient examination, diagnosis and treatment" (ACA, 2).

Mind-body interventions "use the connection between a person's mind, body, and spirit to enhance total well being" (Hirsch, 3). These therapies include activities such as Yoga and meditation. Yoga is an ancient Indian body of knowledge that dates back more than five hundred years ago. "The word "Yoga" came from the Sanskrit word "yuj" which means, "to unite or integrate."" (Shaynebance, 2). Yoga seeks the balance between an individual and the environment. This balance is achieved thru exercise, meditation, and breathing. According to Shaynebance "Yoga exercises improve circulation, stimulate the abdominal organs, and put pressure on the glandular system of the body, which can generally result to better health". Mind and body interventions can be effective in schizophrenia, diabetes, depression, heart decease, anxiety, muscular pain, and posttraumatic stress disorder, among others. Yoga classes have an average rate accessible to everyone. This days Yoga is extremely popular so it is available to most of the people.

The Kids Health Article states that Energy therapies are meant to restore disturbances in the body's natural energy. "Energy therapies include such practices as Qi gong and Reiki". The International Center 
for Reiki Training defines this practice as a Japanese technique for stress reduction and relaxation that also promotes healing. The word Reiki is made of two Japanese words - Rei which means "God's Wisdom or the Higher Power" and Ki which is "life force energy". Reiki is practice by the imposition of hands; thru this method energy flows and restores natural health. "Reiki use is not dependent on one's intellectual capacity or spiritual development and therefore is available to everyone. It has been successfully taught to thousands of people of all ages and backgrounds" (ICRT). "A friend of mine went into the hospital for some reconstructive surgery due to breast cancer. After a couple of weeks, I saw her husband and inquired about her health. He was devastated and told me that she had developed a severe infection and had been running a fever of 104 degrees for several days and the doctors