No longer the exclusive realm of tree hugging, hippie vegetarians, alternative medicine is gaining popularity across the globe. More and more people are turning to aspects of it in order to help them cope with in the increasing stresses of every day living. Massage has virtually become a way of life for many people, yet they probably don't consider it an alternate therapy. Acupuncture is also increasing in popularity as people realise that the needles don't hurt and they do actually work. Thousands of years of practice can't be that wrong. Even some medical aids, those dinosaurs of the medical world, (perhaps a better analogy would be those rocks of the medical world, because getting money out of them is like getting blood out of a rock), are starting to move with the times and are willing to pay for some alternative treatments if your doctor prescribes them. What exactly is alternative medicine? It is sometimes called complementary medicine, but that doesn't help with the definition at all, that's just by the way. According to Cathy Wong in Your Guide to Alternative Medicine" alternative medicine is any therapy or treatment that is not conventional medicine. That seems like an extraordinarily broad definition to me. By that definition eating chocolate for rheumatism is alternative as is drinking beer for malaria. However, we can be fairly sure that Cathy doesn't mean for alternative to extend quite that far. She probably assumes that we are all reasonable, logical adults with a fair amount of understanding and that we won't act like idiots. Some of the more popular and therefore common therapies include: chiropractic, herbs and nutritional supplements, diet, mind-body therapies, naturopathic therapies, homeopathy, aromatherapy, energy therapies, bodywork, ayuvedic massage, traditional Chinese medicine and yoga. Alternative medicine is based primarily on the body's innate ability to heal itself. The therapies and treatments are designed to aid the body in its self-healing process. Yoga unblocks blocked charkas and releases energy so that the body is able to function optimally. It also increases strength and poise to keep the charkas unblocked and to allow energy and creativity to keep flowing freely. Some types of massage and deep breathing do the same. Meditation keeps your mind focused and sharp, keeping you mentally healthy and balanced, in theory. Deep breathing plays an important role in meditation. It helps to focus the mind and it enables you to control the functioning of your body to a certain degree. The more you practice mediation techniques and the greater you grow in proficiency the greater your control becomes. One of the principles of alternative therapy is that natural methods come first. The adherents to alternative healing do not necessarily discount the use of conventional medicine, they merely argue that it should be used as a last resort. Alternative therapies are also highly individualised to suit the patient's needs and they offer a comprehensive and holistic approach. The ultimate goal is to create optimum health in the entire body, the practitioners do not focus on clearing the symptoms only, they focus on overall body health. Alternative healing has been around for centuries. The Chinese must get quite a kick out of knowing that their medicine is referred to as alternative. They've only been using it on a regular basis for millennia. Point is, alternative as the name says it is, it is gaining in popularity, in the US alone one third of the population uses alternative therapy. There are a lot of people in the US. Conventional medicine is starting to use alternative therapy in conjunction with its treatments in a process called integrative therapy. It's been know to work very well. It seems that nearly seems that nearly everyone is developing an open mind to other ways of doing things and that is always a good thing.
Please Rate this Article 5 out of 54 out of 53 out of 52 out of 51 out of 5
Not yet Rated
