Natural Remedies
The aim of this section is to provide an accessible guide to understanding what works and what does not in the world of complementary and alternative medicine, and how to put this information to use in people everyday life. From acupuncture to yoga, Echinacea to Cordyceps Sinensis, and meditation to healing touch, Natural Remedies Almanac provides answers to the most common questions about the safeness and effectiveness of complementary and alternative medicine and when it's appropriate to use natural remedies in place of or in conjunction with conventional methods. Each site page follows a standardized format such as remedy's origins, benefits, preparations, precautions, side effects, research and general acceptance, and resources.
Terms «nonconventional medicine», «alternative medicine», «not traditional medicine», «non-classical medicine», are not clearly defined and quite often used in different meanings. The most common terms for non-conventional treatment options are Complementary and Alternative medicine.
The term 'alternative medicine' is usually used to describe practices used independently or in place of traditional medicine as well as any innovative (venture) medical projects. Term 'complementary medicine' is primarily used to describe practices used in conjunction with orthodox medical treatments.
The increasing number of people is turning to natural treatment options. The growing popularity of alternative and multicultural medicine is not a recent development. Comparing the medical systems of China, India, and the west (both mainstream and alternative), this volume ranges across four centuries and many continents, mapping the transmission of medical expertise from one culture to another and laying bare the roots of today's distinctions between alternative, complementary, and orthodox medicine. The most common reasons for preference of natural medicine over conventional treatments are that people may be seeking for a treatment option that consistent with their values, or looking for the most effective treatment available after orthodox medicine has failed, or just trying to avoid side-effects of conventional pharmaceuticals.
The CAM therapies are the special techniques which have been checked and confirmed by centuries-old experience. The aim of any natural remedy or treatment is to restore the balance of the body functions and to promote self-restoration.
CAM therapies have a lot to offer modern healthcare. There is evidence, which advises that certain natural remedies achieve similar or even better results than conventional treatments, some of which usually have serious negative side effects. The fact that some alternative health treatments are now covered by health insurance is proof that they have entered the mainstream.
CAM therapies are getting more and more recognized as a valuable addition to conventional medicine. Chinese researchers have shown that adding moxibustion to the treatment improves the effectiveness of orthodox treatment for rheumatoid arthritis, and reduces the need for conventional drugs. Similarly, hypnosis may reduce the use of drugs in chronic pain.
Other studies have demonstrated that CAM treatments may mitigate the side-effects of pharmaceutical drugs. Conventional medicine is also beginning to take note of ideas of health that CAM practitioners have been espousing for centuries, for example a greater focus on nutritional approaches to disease.
There is an opinion that methods of CAM medicine, despite seeming simplicity, are much more complex in comparison with approaches of the conventional medical practice. This fact along with the lack of formally designed clinical studies leads to CAM methods often get discredited.
The further research into CAM therapies will definitely enhance the prospects for evidence-based, patient-centred healthcare that will incorporate any therapy demonstrated to be safe and effective - and this is the future of integrative medicine.
Posted in Natural Remedies
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