Alternative Medicine: Our Responsibility as Healthcare Providers
Alternative
medicine is an increasingly polarizing topic, even among healthcare providers. By
definition, alternative medicine is any therapy that does not stand up to
science, and yet people have continued to resort to them for thousands of
years. A National Health Interview Survey conducted in 2007 found that 38% of
adults and 12% of children had used some form of alternative medicine in the
past year, and spent almost $34 billion out-of-pocket on these therapies. This
includes therapies such as herbal supplements, acupuncture, homeopathy,
cupping, and chiropractic therapy. Although chiropractic therapy is becoming
more mainstream, it is continued to be classed as alternative due to lack of
evidence surrounding the practice. Chiropractic therapy has only been shown to
be effective for back pain, but not superior to traditional medicine and is
more expensive. It also comes with its own risks. There is strong evidence that
suggests manipulation of the neck, a common practice by chiropractors, causes
strokes.
I have
always been skeptical of alternative medicine, however, I never really felt
confident enough to voice my opinion on the topic. I felt as though I might
have overlooked something, or did not possess enough knowledge to form an
informed opinion on it. After all, this is an industry that has stood the test
of time and is a practice that is embedded in many influential cultures. After reading a book, Trick or Treatment by
Simon Singh and Edzard Ernst, which comprehensively assesses the scientific merit
of these practices, I realized there was not much more to it, and any further
information I would need is easily accessible. The book is highly recommended,
although a lot of the content would feel redundant, especially the first chapter,
which provides a very in-depth explanation, history of, and basis for the
scientific method, targeted for an audience of a non-scientific background. One
of the authors of the book, Edzard Ernst, is a professor of complementary
medicine. The book, therefore, is very balanced and examines different
alternative therapies with an objective and unbiased lens.
The book
also helps shed some light on why alternative medicine remains so popular. In
addition to mistrust in modern medicine, anecdotal success more often than not
due to placebo, and people’s desperation to find a cure when nothing else seems
to work, influential organizations such as the WHO play a major role. For
example, a few years ago, the WHO published a report in favor of acupuncture.
Further review of the report revealed that a significant proportion of the
studies used in the report were heavily flawed and biased towards acupuncture.
The effects of erroneous reports and misinformation such as this are often
difficult to fix, as we have also seen with the vaccines. It is important,
therefore, for health professionals to continuously educate patients in an
objective manner using the most reliable evidence we currently have. This is
also not to completely dismiss all alternative medicine as useless. Some
therapies have been proven to be effective in what they claim to treat.
However, the more evidence we accumulate in favor of an alternative therapy,
the more it shifts to mainstream medicine and is no longer classed as
alternative. An example of this is the use of willow bark, which became modern
day aspirin. A modern day example where we could see this happen again is St.
John’s Wort, which is becoming increasingly accepted for it’s beneficial
effects on depression.
Trick or Treatment:
Alternative Medicine on Trial, Simon Singh and Edzard Ernst
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