Alternative health therapy is any kind of healthcare that doesn’t involve the use of conventional, evidence-based healing methods in order to alleviate the symptoms of a disease and restore the normal functioning of the body. These therapies are carried out all across the world by a variety of health care providers, who are skilled in relieving physiological or psychological symptoms of an ailment through the use of homeopathy and naturopathy. Alternative health therapies first commenced in China and the Indian Subcontinent, nearly four thousand years ago. Due to the renowned health movement in the mid of the eighteenth century, this practice became very common and widespread in America. Some branches of alternative health care include: * naturopathy * homeopathy * osteopathy * acupuncture * unani * Siddha medicine * Ayurveda
The various practices listed above have all very different concepts. They are based on traditional thinking, spiritual ideas, and sometimes even legends. The five major groups into which alternative health care is classified are mind-body intervention, biological practices, energy medicine, manipulative practices and whole medical systems.
Mind-body intervention aims at providing a connection between the body and mind, allowing the latter to assuage any symptoms the patient may be suffering from. Some of these techniques were known to be a branch of alternative medicine but currently are used in majority of the societies. There are numerous methods that constitute mind-body interventions, some of which would be aromatherapy, art therapy, self-hypnosis, meditation and visualization.
Energy therapy involves discovering the effect of fields of energy on the human body through treatment. Energy medicine has two major divisions: * bio-field therapies * bio-electromagnetic therapies Bio-field therapies (also known as reiki and non-contact therapeutic touch) affect the energy fields that surround the human body and then penetrate it. Medical practitioners utilize this energy by disrupting the field with their hands. Bio-electromagnetic therapy is intended to recover the body’s bio-fields. It helps treat a disease by applying electromagnetic radiation.
Using natural products such as plants herbs to help cure diseases and promote health is the basis for biological practices. This is the most frequently used domain of complimentary and alternative medicines. It is estimated that almost 22% of people have used some kind of biologically-based alternative product, including vitamins, herbs, minerals, or animal-derived products. Macrobiotics, prebiotics and probiotics are also included in this.
Manipulative medicine is concerned with handling of different body parts in order to restore the natural conformation. The techniques more commonly used include massage, chiropractic and reflexology. Chiropractic practices deal with re-establishing the proper alignment of joints and the vertebral column as misalignment can lead to severe nervous symptoms.
‘Whole medical systems’ consist of homeopathy and naturopathy. Homeopathy is concerned with stimulating the body to bring about its own response to an ailment. A basic principle of homeopathy is that any foreign agent that causes a disease in a normal individual will provide relief from the same symptoms to a patient suffering from that illness.
Naturopathy deals with consolidating different treatments in order to bring about the desired response against symptoms. It states that the human body is armed with an inherent capability to recover from an illness and regain its normal state of health. Some treatments that constitute naturopathy are homeopathy, acupuncture, hydrotherapy and herbalism.
Psychological disorders and certain chronic diseases are treated after continuous use of alternative health therapies. A great advantage of alternative medicine is that there is no major threat of side-effects as is the case in drug therapy. Many universities worldwide have courses related to alternative medicine, and the medical practitioners become known as naturopathic doctors. There are many facilities that provide alternative health care to those in need of this service.
As the world becomes more dependent on technology more practitioners are taking advantage of the benefits this brings to them and their patients. Many alternative health practitioners are now using technology to monitor and treat patients remotely. Practices, such as Limbic Stress Assessment, use devices that can be connected in the home of patients and have measurements sent to a care provider who may be thousands of miles away. So it is no longer necessary to live within driving distance of your alternative health practitioner to be able to take advantage of what these therapies have to offer.
One should note that in alternative medicine, health care providers treat the symptoms and the disease. Alternative health care is meant to restore the normal functioning of a human being and purify his or her mind, body and spirit.
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