Alternative Treatment

Medical & Psychosocial Aspects of Disability

Alternative to Allopathic Medicine

Alternative medicine encompasses a variety of modalities used to treat symptoms, infections, pathological conditions, and underlying causes

Alternative modalities incorporate knowledge and theories about the non-physical, non-material aspects of human physiology

Alternative medicine approaches generally promote the idea that the human body has an innate ability to rebalance and heal any disease that develops and therapeutic modalities are designed to enhance and support this process

Commonly Encountered Types of Alternative Medicine

Traditional Adjuvant Therapies Music, Art, Dance, Recreational, and Horticultural therapies Designed to promote personal expression and social

interactions based on the concept that recovery from dis-ease and maintenance of health are enhanced through channels providing emotional and nonverbal expression

Therapies historically have been provided as part of institutional rehabilitation programs; third-party funding has been reduced or eliminated for such non-medical therapeutic programs

Currently, volunteer-based Arts-in-Medicine programs seek to restore some aspects of these modalities to the hospital/institutional milieu

Traditional Chinese Medicine

Acupuncture Ancient art used in Chinese Medicine Based on the theory that there is a life force

called Qi (Chi) that flows throughout the body in channels called meridians

Illness or disease occurs when the flow of Qi is obstructed, unbalanced, deficient, or excessive

Therapy sought for relief of pain and other symptoms; therapy often continued to achieve balance and increase health

Acupuncture techniques use needles or pressure (acupressure, Shiatsu) to stimulate points of the body where meridians exist to promote the proper flow and balance of Qi throughout the body

Traditional Chinese Medicine

Chinese Herbal Medicine Ancient art used in Chinese Medicine Herbs and herbal preparations possess certain

characteristics and energies that provide support to the body while it balances and heals itself

Physiotherapy techniques

Rolfing deep soft tissue

manipulation Generally used for

chronic pain conditions such as myofascial pain.

Accupressure Deep friction

massage

Chiropractic Based on the theory that humans are integrated

beings and body systems and emotions are interrelated

Attend to physiological and biochemical aspects of the body

Evaluate structural, spinal, musculoskeletal, neurological, vascular, nutritional, emotional and environmental relationships of body systems

Health is affected by alignment of spinal structures

Improperly aligned structures negatively impact various body systems

Properly aligned structures promote proper functioning of body systems, thereby supporting the body’s ability to maintain health and immunity

Therapy often sought for relief of pain related to back and neck injuries; therapy continued to promote balance and health

Treatment methods include adjustment and manipulation of spine and adjacent structures, heat (diathermy), cold (ice), ultrasound, percussion on trigger points

Spiritual Healings

Relationship of Soul and Body. Christianity

“Laying on of hands” Relationship of person to God Health-Faith relationship

Native American Healing Relationship to the earth Herbal Medicine

Subtle Energy Medicine (the Woo-Woo modalities)

Therapeutic Touch Popularized by the nursing profession during the

1970s and 1980s Based on the concept that there is an energy field

emanating from each human body that is affected by disease processes or other injury to tissues

Therapeutic intervention consists of the practitioner holding or moving her hands within the client’s energy field to strengthen it and return it to a functional state

Subtle Energy Medicine (the Woo-Woo modalities)

Crystal therapy Based on the concept that crystals emanate vibratory

energies that (a) draw disease processes away from the human body and that (b) enhance the energy of the human body to withstand diseases and heal itself

Therapeutic intervention consists of placing crystals on the body in areas deemed important to the disease process or the health process

Subtle Energy Medicine (the Woo-Woo modalities)

Homeopathy Based on the concept that living

plants emit certain frequencies of energy that or cause specific sets of symptoms in the human body.

The Homeopathic therapist (doctor) matches the patient’s symptoms with a set of symptoms caused by a specific plant or plants and uses a preparation made with that plant to cause an increase in symptoms—thereby calling even more of the body’s defenses into play

Therapeutic intervention consists of the application or ingestion of appropriate homeopathic preparations (generally distilled plant essences in an ethanol or cream base)

Additional Resources and Information from the Web

Acupuncture.com (www.acupuncture.com) Alternative Medicine Homepage (

www.pitt.edu/~cbw/altm.html) 2 of Dr. Andrew Weil's Integrative Medicine sites: www.drweil.com www.drweilselfhealing.com http://www.energymedicinewoman.com/energy.html http://www.shamanlinks.net/Shaman_Links.htm