CAM ALternatives
Donita Estes
SCI/201
Adam Krishan
January 13, 2014
Complementary, Alternative and Integrative medicine are viewed as alternative approaches to traditional health care treatments. Over 40 percent of Americans use medical treatments developed outside of what’s considered to be “mainstream” Western or conventional, medicine for specific conditions or sustainability of overall well being. Discussions among people in the medical field often times lead to these types of treatments to termed “alternative” and “complementary”, many times used interchangeably but actually refer to different concepts.
Complementary Medicine is defined as the treatment, alleviation, or prevention of disease by such techniques as osteopathy, homeopathy, aromatherapy, and acupuncture, allied with attention to such factors as diet and emotional stability, which can affect a person's wellbeing. Alternative medicine is defined as a variety of therapeutic or preventive health care practices, such as homeopathy, naturopathy, chiropractic, and herbal medicine, that do not follow generally accepted medical methods and may not have a scientific explanation for their effectiveness. Lastly integrative medicine is defined as he combination of practices and methods of alternative medicine with conventional biomedicine. It emphasizes treating the whole person, with a focus on wellness and health rather than treating disease and on the patient-physician relationship.
Over the years the lines of “Traditional or Conventional” and “Alternative” medicine have become intertwined. For example the use of guided imagery and massage considered to be complementary medicine or alternative have become regular uses in some hospitals to help with pain management.
Western or Conventional medicine has grown in many ways expounding in antibiotics and surgeries that would have been unthinkable just 25 years ago. These advances have been
SCI/201
Adam Krishan
January 13, 2014
Complementary, Alternative and Integrative medicine are viewed as alternative approaches to traditional health care treatments. Over 40 percent of Americans use medical treatments developed outside of what’s considered to be “mainstream” Western or conventional, medicine for specific conditions or sustainability of overall well being. Discussions among people in the medical field often times lead to these types of treatments to termed “alternative” and “complementary”, many times used interchangeably but actually refer to different concepts.
Complementary Medicine is defined as the treatment, alleviation, or prevention of disease by such techniques as osteopathy, homeopathy, aromatherapy, and acupuncture, allied with attention to such factors as diet and emotional stability, which can affect a person's wellbeing. Alternative medicine is defined as a variety of therapeutic or preventive health care practices, such as homeopathy, naturopathy, chiropractic, and herbal medicine, that do not follow generally accepted medical methods and may not have a scientific explanation for their effectiveness. Lastly integrative medicine is defined as he combination of practices and methods of alternative medicine with conventional biomedicine. It emphasizes treating the whole person, with a focus on wellness and health rather than treating disease and on the patient-physician relationship.
Over the years the lines of “Traditional or Conventional” and “Alternative” medicine have become intertwined. For example the use of guided imagery and massage considered to be complementary medicine or alternative have become regular uses in some hospitals to help with pain management.
Western or Conventional medicine has grown in many ways expounding in antibiotics and surgeries that would have been unthinkable just 25 years ago. These advances have been