|
|
Health and beauty |
 Send this article to a friend
|
|
Some people swear by complementary therapies, which are increasingly widely used. Complementary therapies are getting more popular - nearly six million of us use one each year. But they are often not accepted as part of mainstream medicine and their availability on the NHS is limited.
Features explained:
Osteopathy/chiropractic
Osteopathy and chiropractic both involve manipulating and mobilising the spine. Osteopaths lay equal emphasis on the joints and surrounding soft tissue, such as muscles and ligaments, while chiropractors focus more on the joints of the spine and the nervous system.
Massage therapy
Massage therapy applies pressure to the soft tissues of the body - the skin, muscles, tendons and ligaments.
Herbal medicine
Herbal medicine uses the healing properties of plants to treat illness and has been around for thousands of years. There are various forms, such as Western, Chinese and Ayurvedic ( India ). Herbalists usually take a holistic approach, looking for underlying causes of ill health and focusing on the individual as a whole rather than on specific diseases they may have.
Aromatherapy
Aromatherapy uses essential plant oils to relieve symptoms of ill health and to promote wellbeing. The oils are either inhaled or absorbed through the skin. They then enter the bloodstream and are broken down in the body in a similar way to drugs and herbs.
Acupuncture
Acupuncture involves the insertion of fine needles (much finer than hypodermic needles) into specific 'acupuncture points' around the body to treat a wide range of illnesses.
Homeopathy
Homeopathy has been used for more than 150 years. Its basic principle is that 'like cures like'. Illnesses are treated with very dilute remedies made from natural materials such as plants, minerals, metals and some animal products, so someone with a runny nose and watery eyes might be given a remedy made from onions.
Do they work?
The full range of complementary therapies is huge, and evidence for their effectiveness varies, due mainly to a lack of reliable scientific research. It can be hard to know whether a particular therapy works any better than a placebo (dummy treatment) or whether the illness would have improved in time without the therapy. Because of this and the fact that they are often used to improve general wellbeing, it can be difficult to assess their efficacy.
Broadly speaking, complementary and alternative medicine ( CAM ) falls into three groups.
Principal therapies have a diagnostic approach (they aim to identify and treat the cause of the problem), and they are the most widely available. The big five are chiropractic, osteopathy, acupuncture, herbal medicine and homeopathy.
Complementary therapies are not diagnostic but are often used alongside conventional treatments. More regulation and research into their effectiveness are needed. They include aromatherapy, massage and reflexology.
Other therapies claim to diagnose and treat illness but currently lack credible evidence. They include crystal therapy, iridology and kinesiology.
Practitioners
Regulation of practitioners is very important, as some therapies can be dangerous if administered by unskilled hands. Currently only chiropractic and osteopathy are regulated by law, so all practitioners must meet high standards of training, safety and competency.
Herbal medicine and acupuncture are working towards statutory regulation, but the Department of Health (DoH) has yet to announce how and when this will be implemented. Michael McIntyre, Chairman of the European Herbal Practitioners Association, is worried that the current lack of legal safeguards could have dangerous consequences.
He cites a man recently admitted to A&E in Glasgow with serious internal bleeding. A Chinese herbalist had given him herbs that reacted dangerously with his prescribed medicine. The herbalist had recently arrived from China , was unregistered and couldn't speak enough English to get full medical details.
All other therapies in this report are working towards voluntary self-regulation to develop common standards of training and practice. For the last five years the Prince of Wales' Foundation for Integrated Health (FIH) has been working, with the DoH and professional CAM organisations, to set up a single regulatory body for each CAM and to help develop robust voluntary or statutory self-regulation. But at the moment, standards vary.
Medicines
Until last year herbal medicines were unlicensed and consumers had no way of knowing which were safe. This allowed poor-quality, and sometimes unsafe, medicines to enter the UK.
For example, the anti-anxiety herb “kava kava” was recently banned after being linked to liver damage. And last November the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) found dangerously high levels of mercury in traditional Chinese medicines seized from a shop in London .
An EU directive, which came into effect last October, established a registration scheme for traditional herbal remedies that requires manufacturers to meet quality and safety standards.
The future
A study commissioned last October by Prince Charles urged the government to do more research into the role of CAM in the NHS. It claimed that it could fill gaps in NHS provision for anxiety, stress, depression and pain relief.
The FIH's report A Healthy Partnership, published at the same time, called for 'a more integrated health service...that does not ask the patient to choose between orthodox or complementary, but offers each patient the full advantages of both'.
But some health specialists are critical. Dr Richard Horton, editor of the Lancet medical journal, has blasted the Prince's study as 'dangerous nonsense', saying that such enthusiasm for CAM undermines 'rational medicine'.
And even Professor Edzard Ernst, Director of Complementary Medicine at Exeter and Plymouth Universities , has expressed concern that the FIH is advocating integrated medicine based on 'anecdote and irrationality'. He says that anything other than 'evidence-based' medicine could be bad for public health and CAM itself.
Choosing a therapist
With little regulation make sure you do your homework before selecting a therapist and seek professional advice.
Choose a therapist who is a member of a reputable professional organisation - see 'Contacts' for a list. The organisation should also be able to give you more information and advice. It's worth asking your GP, too. Check the following:
- whether the therapist is registered with the relevant statutory body or a professional association
- whether they are sufficiently qualified and experienced
- that they have professional indemnity insurance. This covers both you and the therapist if something goes wrong and you need to claim for damages
- how much the treatment will cost per session and how many sessions you may need.
A good practitioner won't mind answering any of your questions and should always take a detailed medical history before starting treatment.
Keep everyone informed. Always tell your GP, complementary practitioner and pharmacist about any other medicines you are taking (almost half the people in our survey who were using a complementary therapy for a specific problem said that their GP was not aware that they were doing so).
If things go wrong
If you are unhappy with your practitioner, or the service you have received, complain to the practitioner to give them a chance to put things right.
If you're unhappy with their response, complain to the professional body of which they are a member.
Some complementary therapies can alleviate the symptoms of certain conditions, but there is limited evidence that they can actually cure you.
No one advises that you should use CAM as a complete substitute for conventional diagnosis and treatment, but if you find CAM beneficial and decide to use it, you have the right to be treated by qualified and safe practitioners. At the moment, however, choosing a reputable practitioner can be difficult, and the current system of regulation is confusing.
So, as more and more health products and services are available on the Internet, we recommend you check the credibility and notoriety of the online merchant you consider buying from.
© Before-Buying.co.uk 2006 |
Your opinion matters
|
|
|
|
|
|
