Acupuncture is one of the most thoroughly researched and documented alternative medical practices. While controlled studies have demonstrated some positive effects of acupuncture on a variety of conditions, the statistical results have not been conclusive.
Homeopathy is a 200-year-old system of medicine that uses pills or medicinal drops made from diluted extracts of herbs and other substances. Developed by German physician Samuel Hahnemann, homeopathy is based on two main principles. The first states that a substance that can cause certain symptoms when given to a healthy person can cure those same symptoms in someone who is sick. The second states that, contrary to teachings of modern chemistry and physics, the more a substance is diluted, the more potent it becomes. Proponents of homeopathy claim there remains a so-called molecular memory of the original substance. Critics say water molecules vibrate and change constantly, so that any impressions made by a substance previously dissolved in them are quickly lost.
Each year in the United States 2.5 million people use homeopathy and make 5 million visits to homeopathic practitioners. The FDA allows homeopathic products to be sold as long as specific health claims are not made.
A number of studies in reputable scientific journals have suggested that homeopathic remedies are useful for diarrhea, asthma, hay fever, influenza, and migraine headaches. However, critics claim that these studies were flawed and that more scientifically rigorous investigations would likely show no benefit.
The field of chiropractic was founded by David Daniel Palmer in the 1890s. He believed that joint subluxation, or a partial dislocation, is a causal factor in disease and that removal of the subluxation by thrusting on the bony projections of the vertebrae restores health.
In addition to manipulating and adjusting bone and tissue, particularly in the spinal column, chiropractors use a variety of manual, mechanical, and electrical treatments. Chiropractors are most widely recognized for providing drug-free, non-surgical management of back and neck pain as well as of headaches. Some chiropractors also treat a variety of other ailments—such as bladder infections, arthritis, and depression—with spinal adjustments and other manipulations. Disease prevention and health promotion through proper diet, exercise, and lifestyle are other important features of chiropractic medicine.
There are about 50,000 chiropractors in the United States, and they serve up to 7 percent of the population. Licensing is required in all states. Chiropractors are allowed to use manual procedures and interventions but not surgery or chemotherapy.
Biofeedback is a treatment method that uses monitoring instruments to provide patients with physiological information of which they are normally unaware. In the 1960s, experimental psychologist Neal Miller demonstrated that the autonomic nervous system—which controls heart rate, blood pressure, blood flow to various organs, and gastrointestinal activity—is entirely trainable. In succeeding decades the validity of Miller’s observations was documented in thousands of articles and books, leading to widespread application of this technique. Today, biofeedback is used to treat a wide variety of conditions and diseases including stress, drug addiction, sleep disorders, epilepsy, fecal and urinary incontinence, headaches, and high blood pressure.
By watching a monitoring device, patients can learn by trial and error to adjust their mental processes in order to control bodily processes. Electrodes are attached to the area of the patient being monitored—for instance, to the involved muscles during muscle therapy, or to the head during brain-wave monitoring. These electrodes feed the electrical information to a small monitoring box. The results are registered by a tone that varies in pitch or by a visual meter that varies in brightness as the function being monitored changes. The patient engages in mental exercises, in an attempt to reach the desired result, such as muscle relaxation or contraction. Voluntary control may be achieved in as few as ten sessions, although chronic or severe disorders may require longer therapy. Eventually, patients may learn to control symptoms without the use of the monitoring device.
Naturopathy was founded in the beginning of the 20th century by a group of therapists who were followers of Sebastian Kneipp, a 19th-century proponent of the healing powers of nature. At the height of its popularity, there were more than 20 naturopathic medical schools (today there are only three) in the United States and naturopathic physicians were licensed in most states. The practice of naturopathic medicine declined as the use of pharmaceutical drugs increased. However, in the past several decades there has been a resurgence of interest in naturopathy.
Naturopathic medicine integrates alternative medical practices—such as botanical medicine, homeopathy, acupuncture, and Oriental medicine—with modern scientific diagnostic methods and standards of care. Naturopathic physicians are trained in conventional medical disciplines as well as in alternative approaches. They integrate this knowledge according to principles that recognize the body’s inherent ability to heal itself, the importance of prevention, and the possibility of therapeutic use of nutrition to promote health and fight disease.
Most of the research on naturopathy has been based on observation of treatments rather than on controlled clinical trials that compare naturopathic therapy with no treatment (a placebo) or with an alternative treatment.
Trepanning, in surgery, removal of a disk of bone from the skull to provide entrance to the brain or to relieve intracerebral pressure. The procedure is done most often in cases of bleeding between the brain and the skull. Collections of blood of this kind, if not evacuated, may compress the underlying brain and cause damage or even death. The cranial bones are cut with a small cylindrical saw, called a trepan or trephine, equipped with a center pin. The center pin extends a short distance beyond the blade of the saw and is inserted first to prevent slippage. In modern surgery the disk is replaced by a metal plate after the operation is completed.
Trepanning is the most ancient form of surgery for which objective evidence exists. Examination of fossil skulls indicates that trepanning was performed as early as the Neolithic Age. In ancient times trepanning was performed on live patients suffering from fractured skulls, convulsions, and insanity. Disks of bone from the skulls of cadavers were often carved and used as religious amulets in ancient Egypt and Sumeria.
Throughout the ages people have turned for healing to herbal medicine, the sixth field of alternative medicine. All cultures have folk medicine traditions that include the use of plants and plant products. Many licensed drugs used today originated in the herbal traditions of various cultures, such as the medication commonly used for heart failure, digitalis, which is derived from foxglove. In the United States, herbal products may be marketed only as food supplements. Since they are not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), there is no guarantee of their purity or safety. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 4 billion people, or 80 percent of the world’s population, use herbal medicine for some aspect of primary health care.
Touch and manipulation are the mainstays of the manual healing methods, which constitute the fourth field of alternative medicine. Practitioners of chiropractic and massage therapy believe that dysfunction of one part of the body often affects the function of other, not necessarily connected, parts. Health is restored by manipulating bones or soft tissues or realigning body parts.