Complementary Therapies

Complementary therapies are increasing in popularity, and many of them are being gradually incorporated into the practice of modern medicine. Herbal Remedies, which were the mainstay of drug treatment in western medicine before synthetic single ingredient drugs were introduced and took over, and are still the mainstay of other medical systems. Vitamins & Minerals have assumed a great significance with increased knowledge of nutritional health, and Health Supplements and are another piece in the jigsaw of optimum nutrition. Homeopathic Remedies continue to be a popular treatment option for people who don't like taking modern medicines.

Topics within complementary therapies

Herbal Remedies : Homeopathy : Health Supplements : Vitamins & Minerals

Complementary therapies are also popularly called alternative therapies, but there is a fundamental distinction between the two. The idea of an alternative therapy is that it can be used instead of a conventional medical therapy, while the idea of a complementary therapy is that it can be used in conjunction with a standard medical therapy. However the therapies used for both of these ideals seem to overlap and they are usually thought of as a single idea.

Complementary and Alternative Medicine or CAM has become a popular phrase to talk about these ideas in the medical literature, but isn't yet in popular use.

Integrative medicine goes one stage further and combines the best of both conventional and complementary therapies to provide a holistic approach to sickness and health, with greater emphasis on preventative health than is shown by conventional medicine. This is the approach to health that seems to offer the most to the patients who are willing to embrace different ideas of health from those of the narrower confines of the NHS and the GP. However, don't expect the easy option of having a five minute conveyor-belt consultation and then being given some tablets and some weak lifestyle advice. Integrative medicine looks at getting down to the root of your problems and will take longer for each consultation, and you will normally have to pay for this, but it can be really worth it.

Conventional medicine fails many people who have a low-grade health problems. because these are caused by problems that conventional doctors don't screen for, or the initial symptoms lead to the wrong diagnosis, which is then pursued without rethinking or double checking. Now, don't take this the wrong way. If you're having a heart attack or broken your leg, then you will get better treatment from a conventional doctor, because that is what they're trained for. What they aren't trained for and arn't good at is treating low grade illness or in practicing preventative health in such a way that you become really healthy by design, rather than by luck.