Alternative Medicine

Alternative Medicine: Try Something New

Today more then ever alternative medicine is becoming more accepted and widely used as regular medicine. Alternative medicine is considered the use of any medicine out of the normal of what is considered conventional. “Alternative medicine was once considered the domain of snake oil charlatans and gullible consumers”(Waltman, et al 1). As the growing popularity of alternative medicines has increased, so has the number of groups and organizations set up to discover more about these medicines. One group that is set up to discover new findings in this field is the National Center for Complementary and Alterative Medicine and was started by a congressional mandate as a part on National Institutes of Health (Waltman, and et al 2). This group began in 1993 with two million dollars and now is at fifty million dollars in 1999(Waltman, and et al 2). As a result many new discoveries have been found and have helped in a new wave of medicine. It is important to now look elsewhere when conventional medicines fail and to try alternative medicines because they are apart of the lives of many doctors and patients already.

The types and uses of alternative medicines are numerous as well as varied. They come in many different forms for different purposes. There are cranial therapies that consist of massaging the head which adherents say boost health in helping the bone go back into place (Monroe 4). The chelation and crystal methods of healing in which chelation is the administration of strong chemicals to leach toxins out of the body and crystals are used to focus energy and clear blockages of universal energy (Monroe 4). Another famous type of medication is the use of flotation tanks where the person floats in warm, salty water and the person sits in the dark as a sort of meditation (Monroe 5). Along with flotation tank, reflexology is the use of massaging certain points in the hands and feet to address ills elsewhere to clear energy blockages allowing healing (Monroe 5). A famous Chinese healing technique is acupuncture. Acupuncture is similar to acupressure but it incorporates needles and is believed to restore the flow of life energy in the body (Monroe 6). Two methods of therapy that are not recognized as alternative are the use of prayer and food (Monroe 7). Lately mor...

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...the same as acupressure except needles are used (Kowalski 49). It is one of the oldest forms of alternative medicine. It is supposed to bring together the Ying and Yang of the vital energy called chi. It was the starting point of its own healing power much in the same that many powers are being started everyday.

Works Cited

Crone, Hugh. “ Alternative medicines: Science or magic?” Australasian Science Jan/Feb. 2001: 42. ProquestDirect. 5 Feb. 2001 < http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb>.

Kowalski, Kathiann M, Alternative Medicine: Is It for You? Springfield: Enslow Publishers, Inc., 1998.

Marti, James, and Andrea Hine. The Alternative Health and Medicine Encyclopedia. Detroit: Gale Research Inc., 1995.

Monroe, Linda Roach.” A Closer Look at Alternative Medicine.” The Miami Herald 23 may 1993: 1J+. SIRS Knowledge Source: Researcher. 5 Jan. 2001<http://sks.sirs.com>.

Thomas, Peggy. Medicines from Nature. New York: Twenty-First Century Books, 1997.

Waltman, Alicia Brooks, and Camille Chatterjee. “Alternative Medicine Goes Mainstream.” Psychology Today March-April 2000:38. MasterFILE Premier on-line. EBSCO Publishing. 6 Feb. 2001 <http://www.epnet.com/ehost/login.html>.