Rating Alternative Medicine – 6

The most recent study of the relative merits of the various forms of therapy. It involves more than 1,600 patients—conducted that among patients with acute low-back pain, the outcomes are similar whether they receive care for primary-care doctors, chiropractors, or orthopedic surgeons. Moreover, this study found that “primary-care practitioners provide the least-expensive care for low-back pain. Nevertheless, patients expressed the greatest satisfaction with the treatment provided by chiropractors, even though the long-term outcome was no different. Patients found the chiropractors examinations more thorough and their explanations more reassuring.

There may be a role for chiropractic in areas other than treating low-back pain, according to a sampling of published scientific reports. These studies suggest that chiropractic may be helpful for treating bed-wetting in childhood, duodenal ulcers, facial muscles affected by Bell’s palsy, shoulder pain, carpal tunnel syndrome and headaches, among other conditions.

But you should also be aware that there have been instances of life threatening dissection (tearing) of major arteries to the brain during spinal manipulation. If you have any blood vessel problems, check with your doctor before seeing a chiropractor for such manipulation. Manipulation can also lead to complications in the lower spine such as bladder and rectal disturbances, leg weakness, and loss of sensation in the genital area.

THE BOTTOM LINE. I sometimes refer my patients with back pain to a chiropractor, though not a straight or mixer. I emphasize to the patient that there is no credible evidence that chiropractic does anything for AIDS, a heart attack, pneumonia or other diseases. If you are referred to a chiropractor, take sure he or she is licensed, and ask you doctor to discuss you case with the chiropractor before your visit.

Rating Alternative Medicine – 5

Chiropractic

The theory behind chiropractic medicine is that improper alignment of the spine affects virtually every organ in the body and that correcting this condition restores health. Practitioners emphasize that the vertebral column is not simply a rigid structure that houses and protects the nerves coming from the brain, but a series of 24 joints, each of which must be intact and flexible. It’s thought that viturally every disease, not only back pain, is due to slippage—called subluxation—of one or more of these bones.

There are three types of chiropractors: straights, mixers, and the rest. The straights believe that virtually every illness—infection, arthritis, high blood pressure, hear attack—is due to subluxation. They not only correct these slippages when you are sick, but also recommend that your get your spine checked regularly in order to stay healthy. The mixers, who outnumber the straights, also focus on maintaining the mechanical integrity of the nervous system, but concede that there are other causes of illness. In addition to correcting subluxations, mixers advise about nutrition and lifestyle, gives therapeutic massages, perform ultrasound, and even administer an enema now and then Chiropractors in the third, as yet unnamed, category have more limited points of view. They restrict their therapy to nonsurgical neuromusculoskeletal disorders (pain due to muscles spasm nerve inflammation, or bone problems such as arthritis) and make no claims about curing other diseases.

Most orthopedists and osteopaths maintain that there’s no such thing as subluxation. Although mechanical derangement of the spine does occur, they say it is not universal, as claimed by chiropractors. Despite the long, rigorous formal education usually some four years of graduate work at an accredited institution-required before chiropractors on be licensed, the medical establishment views them as tradespeople with scientific pretensions and some M.D.’s rankle when chiropractors call themselves doctors.

Rating Alternative Medicine – 4

Ayurveda

The system of healing called Ayurveda (ayu means “life”, veda means “knowledge of”) originated in India sometime around 1500 B.C. Its basis is natural healing, the belief that humans are an integrated part of nature, governed by the same principles that determine the survival and health of all living matter-plant and animal. Its goal is to bring humans into harmony or equilibrium with their environment.

According to Ayurveda, each of us is born with a constitution composed of varying amounts of three doshas, of forces; vata, symbolized by air or space; pitta, by fire; and kapha, by earth and water. Your type is your individual tridosha, your combination of these three doshas. These characteristics determine what you should eat and how you should conduct your life.

The main objective of an Ayurvedic practitioner, trained in nutrition and meditation, is to characterize or define your type and prescribed accordingly. Since no two people are identical, each prescription for likfe and health must be personally tailored. As a general rule, those who are of predominantly vata constitution are full of energy and always on the move. They are most likely to be troubled by excessive gas, a bad back, arthritis and diseases of the nervous system. Pitta types are volatile, quick to anger, aggressive, and competitive; their major complaints are more likely to involve skin or liver problems, inflammation of some part of the body, ulcers and gall-bladder disease. Kaphas are similar to what conventional doctors call a type B personality: slower, relatively solid and tranquil. They are more susceptible to respiratory conditions such as bronchitis and pneumonia.

THE BOTTOM LINE: Should you head straight for an Ayurveda clinic for indoctrination into this ancient Indian school of medicine? The answer is no, there’s no scientific proof that Ayurveda is effective against disease. Should you maintain an interest in its principles and recommendations for a positive lifestyle? Definitely.

Rating Alternative Medicine – 3

Aromatherapy

Scent is an important part of our lives. Everyone has a favorite aroma-a perfume or an aftershave lotion, a certain flower, the oil used in a relaxing massage.

Professional aroma therapists claim that, in addition tot cosmetic pluses-making you smell good and feel attractive-scents can improve your mood and promote good health. Essential oils-aromatic substances extracted from flowers, roots, bark, leaves, wood resins, and lemon or orange rinds-can be sprayed into the air and inhaled, or absorbed through the skin via massage, hot baths, or hot or cold compresses. It’s believed that every oil either soothes and relaxes or stimulates and invigorates.

How we respond to a particular aroma-with feelings of lust, anxiety, sadness-influences our heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, and possibly our immune system as well. But there is little evidence that scent plays an important role in the management of serious disease. There are some scientifically valid studies that show it can help with less profound problems, including a recent one documenting that elderly substantial doses of sleeping pills slept like babies when a lavender aroma was wafted into their bedrooms at night. Another experiment looked at patients undergoing magnetic resonance imaging, who often complained of claustrophobia in the magnetic capsule. After exposure to the aroma of vanilla, 63 percent of patients reported that they felt less claustrophobic. Interestingly, there were no corresponding changes in their heart rates. So the patients’ anxieties were lessened either by pleasant associations they made with vanilla-a purely psychological phenomenon-or by some undiscovered physiological response.

THE BOTTOM LINE: I don’t believe aromatherapy is a major player in the fight against disease, but certain essential oils can relieve stress and help manage some skin disorders. If you’re considering aromatherapy or are already using it, beware that aromatic oils vary in quality, and their production is not regulated: so make sure your source is reliable. Your best bet is to find a product or brand that works well for you and stick with it. If your skin is sensitive, always test for allergies by applying a very small amount of the diluted oil before you try the whole treatment.

Rating Alternative Medicine – 2

Much of the evidence for the effectiveness of acupuncture is, like mine, have been scientifically controlled studies that have found it helpful for asthma, drug and alcohol abuse, pain management, rehabilitation of stroke victims, and irritable bowel syndrome.

The treatment doesn’t hurt; it feels very much like a mosquito bite, but it can sometimes leave you with a slight ache at the acupuncture point. Many patients describe a tingling or buzzing sensation and feel a sense of heaviness in the area. The number of treatments depends on the condition. I have, patients who’ve experienced relief from an attack of acute back pain in just two session; other with chronic problems are their acupuncturist at regular intervals, as they would see a physiotherapist.

THE BOTTOM LINE: Acupuncture is a legitimate pain-control technique. If you have a bad back or some other chronic disorder that’s giving you round-the-clock pain, suffer from asthma or irritable bowel syndrome, are addicted to alcohol or drugs, or are experiencing intolerable nausea from chemotherapy, it may be worth trying acupuncture from a qualified practitioner.

Rating Alternative Medicine - 1

From acupuncture to aromatherapy: what works—and what doesn’t

Americans spend billions of dollars every year on a wide variety of alternative therapies—often abandoning treatments, recommended by their regular doctors or supplementing prescribed therapies with a regimen that the medical establishment rejects or ridicules. They’re exploring alternative medicine not only to fight illness, but also in the hopes of preventing disease before it starts. And alternative practitioners are gaining credibility, in part, because “conventional” doctors so often seem to change their minds about the efficacy of longstanding treatment and drugs. Theories and practices that were presented as sacrosanct and indisputable often turn out to be harmful in the long run.

As a practicing M.D. who belongs to the medical establishment, he understanding the hunger for other options and have reviewed the leading alternative therapies. Here’s what you should know about seven of the most popular:

Acupuncture

I know one story when my friend visited in China. He witnessed an open-heart operation where the patient, a woman in her late 20s was anesthetized solely with acupuncture. He was apprehensive, to say the least, as the surgeon began to cut through her breastbone with an electric buzz saw. After her chest was split in two, it was spread apart with a large clamp to expose the heart. The repair of the diseased valve took about 30 minutes, after which the breastbone was sewn together with steel sutures, the skin was closed, and the patient was wheeled out of the operating room-still awake!

As a cardiologist, he had attended scores of such heart operations, but he had never seen anything like this. He would never have believed anyone could remain wide awake, let alone smile, through such and ordeal.

A Bacterium a Day Keeps the Doctor Away! – 3

Prebiotics, too

Another way to promote the growth of probiotic bacteria is to take in food they feed on. This is prebiotics. A prebiotic is a molecule that can reach the colon intact to be used by probiotic bacteria. They are mostly non-digestible, naturally occurring sugars that are broken down by certain microbes. Examples of such food are artichokes, chicory root, garlic, banana, onion and asparagus root.

Prebiotics can help maintain the good balance in the digestive system by encouraging the growth of probiotic bacteria.

Just the Beginning

The discovery of probiotics and prebiotics in food is just the beginning. Scientists are continuously researching for more bacteria strains that can help our bodies. One day, we will have a whole range of prebiotic food ingredients. More break-through in research is envisioned. Indeed, bacteria can do wonders for our bodies, don’t you agree?