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Surveys indicate that osteopathy is the most popular alternative therapy in UK with over 3,000 osteopaths providing six million patient consultations a year. Usually perceived as a method of treating musculo-skeletal problems (especially low back pain) by physical methods such as manipulation and massage, it was originally intended to be...
Chiropractic is one of the most widely used systems of alternative health care available today. It is particularly popular in Canada and the USA, its country of origin, where there are over 50,000 practitioners. It is also available in many other countries around the globe. It was rather slower to...
Investigation into the use of herbs in medicine is a vast subject. Even the descriptions used - phytotherapy, herbal medicine, herbalism, traditional and natural medicines - are confusing, meaning different things to different people. Herbal reference books may add to this confusion by including natural products such as vitamins, minerals...
Reiki appears to be a relatively new form of an ancient Buddhist healing practice, characterised by the laying on of hands. An early survey by the Consumers’ Association in 1995 found that around five percent of alternative therapy users consulted spiritual healers including Reiki therapists, a relatively small market share....
Acupuncture is one of the most popular alternative therapies. It can be described most simply as the insertion of needles into the skin at specific points in order to treat disease or promote good health. Used in many NHS practices, particularly pain clinics, acupuncture is acquiring increasing respectability. A UK regulatory...
Amongst the 150 or more alternative therapies available today, aromatherapy is high on the popularity list. There are over 6,000 aromatherapists in UK with varying amounts of training and experience.[1] Recently the Daily Telegraph reported that women were spending £670 million a year on various spiritual therapies; massage techniques such...
George Smith examines a popular touch therapy Reflexology, one of many touch therapies, is enjoying increasing popularity in a 'consumer led boom' in alternative medicine.[1] It is used by ten percent of alternative therapy consumers. Some family practices and hospitals provide it and many health care professionals incorporate it into...
George Smith continues his series with a look at this widely used alternative medicine Homeopathy is one of the most popular and controversial of the plethora of alternative therapies available within and without the NHS. The word homeopathy is derived from two Greek words, homoios meaning 'like' and patheia...
George Smith introduces a series on a growing phenomenon Alternative medicine began to flourish at the end of the 1970s. Before then, therapies such as homeopathy, acupuncture, osteopathy and herbal medicine had dedicated adherents but were considered distinctly suspect and unconventional. In 1914 the General Medical Council issued a...
Amongst the alternative therapies available today, homeopathy is one of the most controversial. It has sometimes been described as 'the therapy that can't work but does work'. Investigation, however, suggests that it is far easier to appreciate the first part of this statement than to substantiate the second. Homeopathy derives from...
