Response to: What is alternative medicine anyway?
Posted by tfootitt on September 5, 2007
”That’s a great question. I know it is, because I asked it. I get this question almost daily. The secret answer is that there is no such thing as alternative medicine. You don’t believe me? Why not–I am a doctor…
There are several ways to define alternative medicine, and sometimes it is contrasted with “complementary medicine”. CAM refers to treatments that “compliment” traditional medicine, while AM refers to treatments that stand in the stead of mainstream medicine. CAM is a broad category used to refer to both.
So what’s my problem? How can I say that there is no such thing?
“mainstream” medicine is medicine that works. It has been studied, tested, deployed, followed, and it is proven to do what it says. Alternative medicine is any treatment that is not yet, or may never be, mainstream. If it is found to work, it becomes mainstream very rapidly. If it is not proven to work, it remains “alternative”.
So, I guess there is, after all, such a thing as alternative medicine. It is any treatment that doesn’t work. Why would anyone want that?
There’s lots of answers to that question. There are also several incorrect answers. The most common incorrect answer describes a conspiracy of doctors and Big Pharma. Others include the myth that patients are dissatisfied with their physicians and the care they provide. In fact, most people like their doctors. But they like their friends even more, and if a friend testifies about a great new potion, well, why not try it?
Why not, indeed. Your doctor knows quite a bit about the medications being prescribed, and the problems being treated. Your friend, alas, does not.” What is alternative medicine, anyway?
I stumbled acros this whist tag surfing. I realise that this is one individuals views and the statements made are very sweeping and do not relate specifically to one therapy, but it really gets my goat when some one who is perceived to be in a position of authority does this without any clear indication that they know what they are talking about (CAM).
The blogger does give some questions for individuals to ask if they go for a CAM treatment, however I would encourage everyone to ask questions regardless of the treatment they go for whether it be ‘mainstream’ or ‘CAM’, after all only they can agree to receiving a treatment, regardless of type.
This kind of response to CAM conforms to the stereotype that Western / ‘mainstream’ medicine is not open to new approaches or methods, regardless of whether they work for ths individual concerned or not. This leads me to wonder why people behave in this way, is it based on control, fear, ignorance or a combination?
I do know that this isn’t true of all ‘mainstream’ practitioners and am pleased to see the UK trying to be more inclusive in relation to this rather than ‘mainstream’ exclusive. For example aromatherapy and acupuncture are readily available on the NHS. Shiatsu is also available in some areas, I know Boston Hospitals Acute Pain Department offer it as a treatment to individuals (http://www.shiatsu.org/public/downloads_public/Shiatsu%20and%20Pain%20Management.pdf).
CAMs are starting to conduct and fund research to enable establishments like the NHS to quantify how CAMs are effective and can be utilised. This will take some time to do as ‘mainstream’ medicine has presenting itself in this way for 100’s of years and producing papers on it. On the other hand Traditional Chinese Medicine has been practised for thousands of years, so has developed over time. The question you’ve got to ask is, would it still be used today if it wasn’t effective?
I do strongly believe that the two can work together effectively and for the better good of the individual. This is already being done in China (http://www.worldwidehealth.com/article.php?id=951).
luiindezon said
I belief healing, relaxing should start within the family. Shiatsu is a simple and great way to achieve so.
family shiatzu
An extract from Energy & Vibration - A basis for a new paradigm by Julian Perry (1996) « Shiatsu blog said
[...] You can also read my previous post on Ki (energy) http://tfootitt.wordpress.com/2007/09/29/ki-or-qi-what-is-it/ and a response to a post related to this articles discussion http://tfootitt.wordpress.com/2007/09/05/response-to-what-is-alternative-medicine-anyway/ [...]
tfootitt said
Javascript newsfeed here, see http://www.chinesemedicinetools.com/node/1929/feed.
tfootitt said
http://www.shiatsublogger.co.uk/2007/10/17/circling-the-truth/
tfootitt said
The discussion continues:
http://www.shiatsublogger.co.uk/2007/09/11/falsifiability
Chinese medicine is scientific | Deepest Health: Exploring Classical Chinese Medicine said
[...] conversation going on across a couple of blogs, Shiatsu blogger and, where the conversation began, Shiatsu Blog. The topic, basically, concerns the fit of “alternative medicine”, in the broader field [...]
tfootitt said
The BBC did an investigative serious debating this very issue:
“About The Other Medicine
Programme-by-programme
Introduction: About the series1
Programme 1. Why is CAM so popular?2
Programme 2. How do we know if they work?3
Programme 3. Does it matter how it works?4
Programme 4. First, do no harm5
Programme 5. Fit to practise6
Programme 6. A marriage made in heaven?7
Why is CAM so popular?
A stroll around any typical British town will show the signs of CAM. How has the UK come to embrace this other medicine – does it offer something orthodox treaments don’t? Programme one asks why is CAM so popular8? Here in the UK, about twenty per cent of us will use some form of complementary therapy every year, spending millions of pounds on treatments. This BBC Radio 4 9 series explores the personal experiences, the scientific debates and the power struggles at the heart of the complementary medicine boom.
Presenter Anna Ford asks why so many of us are attracted to complementary therapies, how they can affect our health and well-being, and whether, in the future, they will ever become fully integrated with NHS care. Along the way we’ll discover how even deciding if complementary therapies have a positive effect can be controversial. We’ll also meet students studying to be the next generation of therapists to explore why standards of qualification vary so much from discipline to discipline.
Whether you’re a sceptic or already convinced of the benefits of medicine beyond the Western orthodoxy, you may find your preconceptions being challenged.”
http://www.open2.net/othermedicine/index.html
tfootitt said
A fantastic debate and inspired comments. Thanks to each and everyone of you for a very insightful debate
lovesleftovers said
Truce. As “they” say, we’ll just have to agree to disagree. Now let’s all hold hands and sing “We are the World”. Have a fabulous day
PalMD said
Lol…touche…I get to teach, read, etc too…it’s a wonderful life. My qi must be correctly aligned.
It’s not a matter of simple trolling to keep controversy going, but a legitimate discussion to differentiate between science and philosophy.
lovesleftovers said
PalMd:it’s becoming glaringly apparent that you’re just trying to keep the controversy going. By the way, don’t you ever see patients? You seem to be on the computer a bit?
PalMD said
It is beautiful and interesting…just not correct. You cannot use it to measure or predict anything. It cannot be falsified. It is a nice “philosophy”, but not science.
Tony Brown said
PalMD: Duality or unity, sorry bad terminology on my part but I just wanted to express that this theory says they are part of the same thing which is what the fathers of modern physics proved.
I cannot show you a qi – nobody ever will. But if as you read this you are seeing qi. If you sniff a flower you smell qi. As you listen to your favourite music you hear qi. The Chinese say qi is everything it is not an entity that you can keep in a display box to look at. It is that what underlies everything: matter and energy. Even this exchange of ideas we are having is an exchange of qi. If I manage to change your mind I have affected your qi. If I don’t then your qi is stronger than mine.
This is no woo but a fascinating philosophy that pervades Chinese thought, art, martial arts, flower arranging and medicine. I would recommend the book A Brief History of Qi by Yu Huan Zhang and Ken Rose for a historical and contemporary examination of the concepts.
PalMD said
So-called CAM is not inherently good or bad…neither is mainstream medicine. Whatever is proven to work is good, whatever is not proven to work is not good. This is the subtle danger of woo…and this is what my point was…once an “alternative” therapy is proven to work, it is no longer considered alternative.
“Qi is a theory that explained the duality of matter and energy long before Bohr and Einstein.” Einstein actually showed unity of matter and energy rather than duality. Qi, like many hypotheses, may have it’s uses, but show me a qi…demonstrate that it is a more useful theory then, say, biology.
lovesleftovers said
Well said, Tony Brown and Emma. An intelligent, gentle approach is always appreciated. As for pinto’s 5150: thanks so much for your well informed comment. You make an excellent point in your argument. Personal attacks certainly won’t substantiate any claims you might have with regard to the medical community, alternative medicine or anything else for that matter. PalMd and tmtouslouse: Thanks for following my comments over to Shiatsu from PalMd’s blog. It’s very flattering.
Emma said
I prefer the term ‘complementary therapy’. A reputable and competent practitioner will always advise that their clients seek the advice of a medical doctor in addition to (or instead of) having whatever treatment they’ve asked for. If you put the arguments and name-calling aside, Western medicine and (most) complementary therapies are ultimately aimed at either maintaining or improving the health and wellbeing of patients and can produce amazing results by working together. Personal crusades, money-making and glory-seeking should always come second to that. As I’ve said elsewhere, “I don’t care if you believe in Qi or in endorphin stimulation, if it gets rid of the pain without killing my liver, I’ll take it.”
emalyse said
Blimey, controversy! Though that’s inevitable when two ‘camps’ get placed on opposing sides (religion vs atheism, left wing vs right wing politics, global warming believers vs non believers…er…comedy vs alternative comedy). I have an open mind but prefer to use the term ‘alternative therapy’ rather than alternative medicine as I believe that’s the main advantage of the philosophies offered and how they are applied (’medicine’ just places these philosophies and treatments under a banner that backs it all into a corner where the argument for validity cannot really be won. For me it’s the wrong classification). Neither ‘camp’ gains many brownie points with how some arguments progress and each side need to ‘give’ a bit more in recognising the bits on each side that work whilst being critical of the bits that have doubtful usefulness as well as taking the criticism where needed (politics does this too-just say the other side is wrong and don’t praise them if they have something of merit). I’m sure the arguments, pros and cons will continue for some time to come.
Tony Brown said
The difference between science and woo-woo is that science investigates but woo-woo just accepts. The problem is that science does not want to understand what is meant by Qi.
Qi is what we extract from air (oxygen), Qi is what we extract from food (proteins, carbs, nutrients), and it is how the body uses it. It is how the body works as an organism and not a bunch of organs wrapped in some skin.
Qi is an elegant theory that the Chinese evolved to explain the Universe, the world and the body. This theory described the circulation of blood around the body long before William Harvey (1628) or even Ibn al-Nafis in 1242. It explained the function of the lungs and their link to blood while the scientific West was still under the impression we breathed simply to cool the body.
Qi is a theory that explained the duality of matter and energy long before Bohr and Einstein. A fact that Bohr seems to have accepted by including the Yin Yang symbol in his coat of arms! (http://home.att.net/~numericana/arms/bohr.htm)
Shiatsu, acupuncture any the other Qi based therapies simply see the body in a different way. They explain the body as Qi as a way of treating the whole person; mind and body. This holistic approach is something that conventional medicine is now embracing.
Qi is a philosophy and in my view does not require scientific validation. It is an approach to healing that is effective in those chronic cases that conventional medicine often fails. It is not a theory to use is one does have acute chest pains or suffers sever trauma. Both methods have their strengths and instead of arguing over approaches each needs to take time to understand the other.
Tmtoulouse said
Too bad, you might have learned something….
Pinto's5150 said
Excuse me for trusting the medical opinion of a doctor over that of a…. whatever the hell it is that you are.
lovesleftovers said
I guess my sarcasm has been lost on the good doctor. I’ll leave you two boys to your rhetoric. I’ve got more important things to do than spar with you. Play nice kids.
PalMD said
I certainly don’t intend to hurt feelings, although I don’t mind doing it. The difference is, my feelings cannot be hurt by criticism of science. If something is shown by science to work or not work, then so be it. I do not have an emotional attachment to a hypothesis. That is the difference between science and woo-woo.
lovesleftovers said
Ouch PalMd…that hurts my feelings. Perhaps I’ve hit a nerve?
Tmtoulouse said
Belief is meaningless when you make claims that can be empirically tested. You want to believe in Qi..fine, just don’t claim it does anything testable or you are in trouble. The moment you start making claims that it can cure disease or manifest in any predictable physical sense it is open to scientific study and scrutiny. Of course when such scrutiny reveals a complete lack of evidence and falsification of predictions you should abandon your initial claims…that won’t happen of course.
PalMD said
And therein lies the problem. I cannot possibly improve upon that comment.
lovesleftovers said
Thank you for giving a well-informed view of so-called “alternative” medicine. Perhaps one day the medical community will catch up with the rest of us. For those who do not believe, no explanation is possible. For those who believe, no explanation is necessary.
PalMD said
Um, actually, the burden of proof is on the one proposing the theory. If you think there is a “life force” such as qi, then you must provide evidence. I’d love to see some.
The studies on faith healing (in the form of intercessory prayer) have been basically a failure. If it brings people comfort, great, but it has not been shown to improve other medically useful outcomes.
See, for instance, http://www.rationalwiki.com/wiki/Faith_healing
Emma said
Someone once pointed out that we believe in wind, even though we can’t see it – because we can see it’s effects. To discount Qi, offhand, without offering any scientific proof or reasoning, shows an incredibly narrow perspective. And to similarly discount faith healing seems odd, given the extensive research which has been conducted into the beneficial effects of faith healing on cancer, in particular.
If the benefits of shiatsu are purely because it provides a relaxing massage, how then does one explain accupuncture, which uses the same underlying theories?
It is so typical of Western arrogance to discount something as being ‘alternative’ until they can ignore it no longer, and then to condescendingly include it in ‘mainstream’, while still refuting the underlying theories and science. Yes, science. Go and read up on Quantum Theory and then tell me that Qi is bunk. And back it up with proof this time.
PalMD said
Shiatsu and other massage techniques provide relaxation and feel good–that is always good; we know that stress increases risk of MI and other diseases. Massage also isn’t harmful. The reasons given for shiatsu to work, and accupuncture as well, are bunk. There is no qi/chi. This is a 1000 year old explanation for an interesting phenomenon. As accupuncture, massage, and other therapies are proven, in good studies, to provide benefit, they will become more accepted, and will eventually be called mainstream.
Therapies that do not prove effective will remain fringe/alternative. Homeopathy, faith healing, and other unscientific treatments will likely always remain on the outside, due to their failure to provide significant benefit.
Any therapy, no matter how wacky it may sound, deserves a look, but it must pass basic scientific muster.