Welcome to Alternative Medicine
What is Alternative Medicine?
It is a term that encompasses health care services outside the traditional western medical practice, such as therapies like: acupuncture, holistic medicine, homeopathy, non-medical massage therapy, herbal therapy, hypnosis, naturopathy, and biofeedback.
It is called alternative because it emphasizes treatments that have not traditionally been used in standard Western medicine, and are not widely taught in medical schools. This includes health care ranging from self-care according to folk principles, to care rendered in an organized health care system based on alternative traditions or practices including: ayurveda, environmental medicine, Latin America rural practices, Native American practice, natural products, past life therapy, Tibetan medicine, Traditional Chinese Medicine, and mind/body control.
Alternative Medicine, sometimes also referred to as part of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM), focuses on the use of various non-drug and non-surgical related therapies. It emphasizes using natural means of treatment. Complementary medicine is used together with conventional medicine. For example, a complementary therapy might be the use of aromatherapy to help lessen a patient's discomfort following surgery. Alternative medicine is also used in place of conventional medicine. An example of an alternative therapy is using a special diet to treat cancer instead of undergoing surgery, radiation, or chemotherapy that has been recommended by a conventional doctor.
The Principles of Alternative Medicine are:
- Illness is a manifestation of an imbalance in the whole person.
- Alternative therapies use the healing power of nature.
Alternative Medicine is based on the body's innate ability to establish, maintain, and restore health, as well as the harmony between all aspects of health (physical, emotional, spiritual, and environmental).
In Alternative Medicine:
- The practitioner facilitates the healing process and identifies and removes obstacles to health.
- The underlying cause of disease must be treated, rather than merely masking the symptoms.
- Alternative medicine is based on the harmony between physical, mental
- The doctor's role is to educate the patient on lifestyle changes, self-care, and prevention of disease.
- The ultimate goal is to promote optimal health. The doctor assesses risk factors and teaches the patient to improve these areas.
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