Complementary medicine (translated from English means “complementary medicine”) - all varieties of alternative medical directions that are used in public health practice along with a variety of official traditional methods.
Basic concepts
There are many synonymous concepts that characterize complementary medicine, many of which are often based on contrasting it with conservative medicine. For example, conventional and unconventional, official and alternative, unconventional and traditional, etc. It should be noted that similar severity of separation is not observed in all countries. For example, in the United States, alternative and complementary medicine is one of the areas of healthcare that does not compete with official medicine, but only supplements it. Moreover, complementary medicine is practiced by doctors at the same time as conventional medicine. Legally, such areas are considered equivalent. In most countries, complementary medicine is allowed, but it does not have government support.
What's the Difference?
Its main difference is the emphasis on the internal forces of the patient, who are actively fighting a particular disease. By this we mean the concentration, mobilization and redistribution of internal resources and capabilities of the body, which cannot be used and involved using traditional therapeutic agents. The most common areas are Tibetan and Chinese traditional medicine, Ayurveda.
Complementary Medicine Methods
There are many methods and directions of such medicine. These include:
- alternative systems;
- biological therapy;
- holistic approaches;
- energy practices;
- spiritual practices;
- body-oriented practices.
In our country today, there are many centers and clinics of complementary medicine that specialize in treating patients with alternative methods. As a rule, these are organizations whose main goal is to provide people with medical care using modern technologies of physiological, functional and manual medicine, with the organization of family doctor services, and various cosmetic areas. Such a clinic can work with patients with chronic and congenital diseases, carry out rehabilitation activities, etc. At the same time, it uses various non-traditional massage techniques, yoga, and Thai, Tibetan and other medicine's health restoration programs.
Oriental medicine, established in ancient times in India, China, Tibet, amazes Europeans with its consistency, completeness and effectiveness, although it operates with concepts that are difficult to perceive by the European mind. This medicine is more than 5000 years old, based on the self-regulation of a living organism. The concept of “medicine” in the East is defined as “the science of health”, and in the West as “the science of disease”. In the East, the doctor, first of all, is a teacher for maintaining health.
Association
There is also the International Professional Medical Association of Complementary Medicine, uniting specialists, healers and psychologists, which was formed to coordinate the activities of doctors working professionally in the field of traditional traditional medicine and other related professions, to improve the means and methods of their work. In addition, the goal is to unite professionally related public organizations from around the world to more fully utilize their creative and scientific potential.
Principles
Practical experience with the use of various methods of complementary medicine simultaneously with traditional therapy suggests that with such a combined approach, the range of rehabilitation and treatment possibilities is expanding significantly. At the same time, the patient always has additional opportunities and the hope of achieving a good result of therapy by using the internal resources of the body.
A particularly good result in recovery is achieved during the correct combination of means and methods of classical and complementary medicine, using various directions and methods of activating internal reserves.
For this reason, the so-called integrated approach to the treatment of many complex diseases, including oncological ones, has recently become very popular in the West.
Alternative and complementary medicine is a complex of various wellness systems and practices, products and methods that are currently not considered to be part of or are not used in traditional medicine. However, there is no scientific evidence on how these systems work.
Thus, the basic principle of alternative medicine is the activation of the patient’s internal reserve forces to eliminate the disease, as well as the use of various physiological and biological effects of internal and external factors on his body.
Advantages
Alternative (complementary) medicine impresses the rejection of the use of drugs, surgical methods and various complex technologies. Those people who seek to strengthen their health highly appreciate the "naturalness" of the means and methods that alternative healers use (healing herbs, normalization of lifestyle, massage, diet, psychotherapy). With a significant increase in the price of medical care, such methods are very economical. The main advantage of such medicine is its naturalness, low cost, the use of only natural products, substances and healing methods.
disadvantages
However, complementary medicine also has disadvantages, and there are many of them. First of all, this is an unconfirmed effect from its use, and in some cases harm. This happens, for example, when a patient with a serious illness ignores the prescriptions of official medicine and seeks help from healers and phytotherapists while the illness progresses and takes on a neglected character. It is important to remember that alternative - this is primarily complementary, and not basic medicine.