Top 5
Complementary Medicines Used In Hospitals
by Julia Layton
Alternative medicine is not the sidelined, new age world of yoga and therapeutic
needles it was once perceived to be. It has become a mainstream, $50-billion health care industry in the United
States, from which 74 percent of Americans seek some sort of medical help.
Not that yoga and acupuncture are in the past. On the contrary, they're two of the most popular forms of
complementary therapy today, offered in thousands of conventional-medicine hospitals around the country.
Complementary medicine isn't the same as alternative medicine. Alternative medicine involves the use of something
like
meditation
,
herbs
or energy therapy
to treat
cancer
instead of radiation or chemotherapy.
In complementary medicine, treatments like
meditation, herbs or energy therapy are used to treat cancer in addition to radiation or chemo.
It's called integrative medicine - an approach to
health that focuses on the whole patient, body and mind, instead of only a particular disease.
Complementary medicine is now practiced in more than one-third of hospitals in
the United States, a notable increase over the one-quarter of hospitals offering complementary therapies in
2005.
There are lots of complementary therapies out there, divided typically into broad categories that describe the
overall approach or theory behind the treatment:
Biologically based practices
Energy medicine
Manipulative/body based practices
Mind-body medicine
Whole medical systems
These are not hard-and-fast distinctions.
Some complementary therapies fall into more than one category, like meditation, which is a mind-body therapy and
part of a whole medical system known as
traditional Chinese medicine.
In this article, we'll find out what each of these complementary approaches
entails and which therapies they promote.
We'll talk about the five most popular complementary therapies that hospitals
offer and what's involved in the treatments.
We'll start with another therapy that began thousands of years ago in traditional Chinese medicine:
acupuncture.
Acupuncture:
Whole medical systems are overarching groups of theories and practices
that encompass every aspect of health.Homeopathy
, for instance, a system that developed in Europe, is based on the principle of "like cures like" -- a homeopath
would inject a person with a tiny amount of whatever disease he or she suffers from so his or her body can learn to
fight it and heal itself.
Traditional Chinese medicine is a whole medical system that revolves around the concepts of
balance --
yin and yang-- and
energy flow, or "qi," along lines
known as meridians
. In this medical system, disease and pain are caused by a disruption in the
body's flow of energy.
Acupuncture, a treatment
in traditional Chinese medicine, is one of the most common complementary therapies offered in hospitals.
In acupuncture, a practitioner inserts thin metal needles into the skin at
specific places. The points align with the body's meridians, the lines along which energy flows.
The purpose is to stimulate these points with the needles to encourage the movement of energy (qi) to specific
parts of the body, or remove an energy block,
in order to restore the body's natural energy flow and thereby alleviate the symptoms of an illness.
Acupuncture may be used
to treat chronicpain
, circulation problems,
depression
and arthritis.
These conditions are some of the most common reasons why people seek
complementary (and alternative) medical therapies.
Someone in a hospital experiencing pain or poor circulation might also receive
the next treatment on the list.
Massage: Hospitals have been
offering massage for many years. It's been proven effective
in the treatments ofpain
(chronic, post-surgery and illness-related),
arthritis and circulation problems, not to mention muscle
soreness.
Massage is part of a
group of therapies known as manipulative
and body-based medicine. This category also includes practices like chiropractic
andyoga
(another top five therapy).
In manipulative and body-based medicine, the idea is that alignment of joints and
the proper circulation to muscle groups and other tissues are crucial to good health.
Massage addresses this concept in a direct way, through the working of muscles, tendons and other soft tissues.
A massage therapist uses hands and arms (and sometimes other body parts, like
feet) to manipulate the patient's body.
Massage increases blood circulation to a part of the body, or throughout the body
in general, by rubbing a muscle group and extending joints.
This manipulation stimulates the flow of blood to that area, which, in turn, increases the oxygen available to
muscles and tissues.
Good blood flow is essential for the body to work efficiently and fight disease.
Up next are the related practices of yoga and meditation, which also seek to
stimulate areas of the body -- but with the added component of mind-based work.
Meditation and
Yoga: Practices like meditation and yoga, offered in hospitals all over the country
(and the world), are popular not only in the treatment of sickness but also in the regular maintenance of general
health.
They're part of a group of therapies known asmind-body
medicine, as well as a whole medical system calledAyurveda
, which originates in India.
In mind-body medicine,
the mind and body are connected integrally.
The mind can and does affect a person's health.
In this approach, treatments like meditation, yoga, prayer
and art are used to alleviate symptoms and
assist in the treatment of all sorts of diseases and conditions, including cancer
, depression
and anxiety, heart
disease, high blood pressure, poor
circulation and chronic pain.
In yoga, a person holds
poses (or postures) for extended periods of time and stretches muscles in ways that promote not only circulation to
certain body parts, but also help to quiet the mind and easestress
.
In this practice, a calm and healthy mind helps to heal the body, and a calm and healthy body helps to soothe the
mind, which can then better serve the body.
Meditation seeks to achieve similar results but it is a still, mind-based approach. People who meditate use
techniques such as visual imagery and mantras to focus and clear the mind.
Mind-body medicine is probably the most common group of complementary treatments
offered in conventional hospitals.
The next two practices on the list are also from this category.
Pastoral (Faith-based)
Counseling: The most common
complementary therapy in the United States isprayer
.
More people turn to prayer when they are experiencing health problems than to any other practice.
Guided prayer -- not only to a god but also
within a general spiritual context -- is just one component of a complementary therapy known as pastoral
counseling.
Pastoral or faith-based counseling is offered by most hospitals -- it can be as
simple as having a rabbi, reverend, priest and imam on staff or on call in case a patient wants spiritual
advice.
A hospital might have a chapel in case a patient (and/or patient's family) wishes to pray or just sit in a
spiritual place.
This group of spiritual treatments can include prayer, spiritual guidance and individual and group therapy.
Anyone of any religion, or people who are not involved in any particular religion
but are looking for something purposeful beyond themselves, may seek this type of assistance when faced with major
medical decisions, and especially when faced with serious or terminal illness.
Pastoral counseling,
prayer or spirituality can be viewed in the context of mind-body medicine, since it's based on the idea that a
serene mind can help the body to heal and ease pain.
Research shows that people who have religious faith tend to be healthier and live longer. This may be due to a
reduction in stress associated with prayer, or it may be something more elusive.
Between 2003 and 2004 alone, at least 45 percent of Americans used prayer specifically for health
reasons.
The last of the top five complementary treatments used in hospitals also
seeks
to cure bodily disease by way of the mind.
It's a very common therapy for heart patients, especially.
Stress
Management: Among mind-body
practices,stress
relief is a primary goal.
This is actually a body of practices unto itself:
Stress management is a critical component in the treatment and prevention of conditions like chronic pain and
heart disease; and patients with terminal illness can experience an improved quality of life by reducing their
stress levels.
Stress has a direct and documented affect on health. The "stress hormone"
cortisol
is a factor in heart disease, high blood pressure, pain and mental disorders, among other issues.
There are lots of approaches to stress management -- ways to decrease the amount
of cortisol coursing through the body.
Yoga and meditation help to ease the mind. A stress-management counselor might
recommend cognitive practices like visualization (perhaps going to your "happy place"), mantras and journaling to
lower stress levels.
There are also behavioral approaches, like giving yourself more time before an appointment so you don't have to
rush.
Sometimes listening to music can help, and using creative outlets like painting
and drawing can ease stress, too.
Along these lines, many
hospitals offerart
and music therapy to their
patients.
Sources:
CAM Basics. National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.
http://nccam.nih.gov/health/whatiscam/
From Acupressure to Yoga: Twice as Many Hospitals Now Integrate Alternative Therapy. MarketWire. October
2003.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_pwwi/is_200310/ai_mark1205690822
Latest Survey Shows More Hospitals Offering Complementary and Alternative Medicine Services. Medical News Today.
Sept. 17, 2008.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/121662.php
The Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine in the United States. National Center for Complementary and
Alternative Medicines.
http://nccam.nih.gov/news/camsurvey_fs1.htm
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