There are many forms of alternative medicine, and no official list exists.
Some of the most common therapies are acupuncture, herbal medicine, homeopathy (the administration of water containing undetectable remnants of semi-toxic substances), hypnosis, meditation, aromatherapy, and Reiki.
Other forms of alternative medicine include the traditional Indian medicine system Ayurveda. In the US, these methods are rarely prescribed by mainstream physicians.
Evidence-based medicine
Evidence-based medicine, also known as EBM, is a philosophy that attempts to evaluate all treatments and diagnostic tests in relation to the best available evidence. While the concept of EBM emerged in the 1990s, its roots go back to the sixteenth century.
Andreas Vesalius, a radical doctor who challenged the wisdom of ancient Roman physicians, emphasized checking anatomy for errors. This idea has worked for centuries, although many modern doctors are puzzled by its popularity.
In the 1990s, Tim Minchin, a comedian, and musician wrote, “There is no alternative medicine, only scientifically proven, evidence-based medicine.” George Lundberg characterized unproven medicine as that which is not backed by research.
Neither Minchin nor Fontana Rosa was as specific about the meaning of ‘proof’.
Both authors were editors at the Journal of the American Medical Association. Despite this paradox, they argued for the importance of using all types of medical treatments to treat certain diseases.
The EBM movement argues for rigorous, controlled trials for all forms of alternative medicine.
While the EBM approach demands the use of population-based clinical studies to support its claims, many practitioners of alternative medicine do not believe that these studies have enough data to establish the efficacy of alternative medicine.
As a result, they often dismiss alternative medicine as a “fad” or a fad. And the movement is not only challenging EBM but attempting to change the rules.
The main goal of evidence-based alternative medicine is to improve the health of the general population. As a result of advancements in scientific medicine, many practitioners believe that evidence-based medicine is unsuited for treating the whole person.
They also claim that biomedicine has created a clinical paradigm that neglects essential aspects of health and wellbeing. Therefore, they seek to integrate evidence-based alternative medicine into medical education. There is some evidence to support this position.
An additional challenge for EBM is the tendency of practitioners to create a false placebo to meet the criteria of a hierarchy.
Although doctors are not allowed to intentionally prescribe pure placebos, practitioners are often able to create an enhanced placebo effect by administering sugar pills or psychic surgery.
Sham surgery and acupuncture with retractable needles can also produce noticeable results, even though the practitioners are not knowingly prescribing them. The results of this approach are unclear.
As an alternative health care professional, you know that the value of evidence-based practices is often undervalued in traditional medicine. However, evidence-based CAM demands that alternative practitioners adopt the epistemic framework of orthodox medicine.
In other words, it is not a scientific necessity but a philosophical demand. Its reasonableness hinges on two premised assumptions. First, a healing art should adhere to a theory of illness.
Despite its limitations, EBM represents a step in the right direction. However, it falls short of making medicine as effective as possible.
It worships the evidence that comes from clinical trials and disregards other types of evidence, such as small case studies, which have a lower standard of proof. This has created a fertile ground for quacks and quackery.
So, let us look if EBM could improve our health care.
Evidence-based medicine has a similar goal: a higher standard of scientific proof than traditional medicine. The latter has been criticized by practitioners of alternative medicine because the evidence for these practices is weak.
Evidence-based medicine should be supported by solid scientific data, but there is no guarantee of its success. There are a variety of approaches to measuring the quality of evidence bases. However, there are some exceptions to this rule.
Dietary approaches to medicine
Biological approaches include nutritional supplements and mind-body practices. Natural products, such as herbal supplements and vitamins, are often used in dietary approaches. They may include certain minerals and amino acids, or glandular extracts.
Many of these products are widely available in the market and sold as dietary supplements. In some cases, they are even used as part of a treatment plan. A study conducted in rural Latin America looked at the access to alternative health care in this region.
Holistic medicine involves the use of other approaches to improve health. Integrative medicine uses both conventional and complementary approaches to treat a patient’s symptoms.
One example is a migraine sufferer who may take conventional pain medications, as well as biofeedback sessions, to treat their symptoms. A holistic approach is a multidisciplinary approach to a patient’s health, which takes into account the whole body and its interactions with other treatments.