When considering a complementary or alternative therapy, it’s helpful to know hospitals affiliated with Yale, Duke, Johns Hopkins, and other top medical research centers also aggressively promote alternative therapies with little or no scientific backing. This embrace of alternative medicine has been building for years. But a STAT examination of 15 academic research centers across the US underscores just how deeply these therapies have become embedded in prestigious hospitals and medical schools. Many of these therapies have been practiced for centuries worldwide:
Body Touch has been used in medicine since the early days of medical care. Healing by touch is based on the idea that illness or injury in one area of the body can affect all parts of the body. If, with manual manipulation, the other parts can be brought back to optimum health, the body can fully focus on healing at the site of injury or illness. Body techniques are often combined with those of the mind. Examples of body therapies include:
• Chiropractic and osteopathic medicine
• Massage
• Body movement therapies
• Tai chi
• Yoga
Diet and herbs. Over the centuries, man has gone from a simple diet consisting of meats, fruits, vegetables, and grains, to a diet that often consists of foods rich in fats, oils, and complex carbohydrates. Nutritional excess and deficiency have become problems in today’s society, both leading to certain chronic diseases. Many dietary and herbal approaches attempt to balance the body’s nutritional well-being. Dietary and herbal approaches may include:
• Dietary supplements
• Herbal medicine
• Nutrition/diet
Some people believe external energies from objects or other sources directly affect a person’s health. Examples of external energy therapy are:
• Electromagnetic therapy
• Reiki
• Qigong
Even standard or conventional medicine recognizes the power of the connection between mind and body. Studies have found that people heal better if they have good emotional and mental health. Therapies using the mind may include:
• Meditation
• Biofeedback
• Hypnosis
Some people believe the senses, touch, sight, hearing, smell, and taste, can affect overall health. Examples of therapies incorporating the senses include:
• Art, dance, and music
• Visualization and guided imagery