Complementary And Alternative Medicine On The Rise

A report released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in December of 2008 showed that the use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) has increased significantly between 2002 and 2007.   Specifically, the number of adults using acupuncture, naturopathy, massage therapy, yoga, deep-breathing exercises and meditation was seen to grow significantly.

In 2002, 2.1 million adults reported seeing an acupuncturist compared to 3.1 million in 2007- and increase of about 50% over five years.  The most commonly used forms of CAM were (listed in order of prevalence)  nonvitamin, nonmineral natural products (such as herbs and fish oils),  deep-breathing exercises, meditation, chiropractic and osteopathic manipulation, massage and yoga.

The complaints that patients (both adults and children) most commonly sought out CAM therapies for were musculoskeletal problems such as back and neck pain or arthritis.  And of the patients that used CAM, it seems that the therapies were used in more of a complementary fashion, not as alternates to other forms of care.  As the report states: “The overwhelming majority of patients using CAM approaches do so to complement conventional care rather than as an alternative to conventional care.”

Read the full article here

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