Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM)
Learning objectives What is ‘conventional’ medicine? How is the scientific method used to determine the efficacy of a particular treatment? What is a clinical trial? What is ‘double blind’? What is the placebo effect? What are ‘complementary’, ‘alternative’, and ‘integrative’ approaches to treatment? What are some (general) benefits and risks of treatment with dietary supplements or herbal medicines? Understand that scientific studies on Mind-body practices such as tai- chi, yoga, hypnosis, meditation etc as well as holistic approaches such as traditional chinese medicine, Ayurvedic medicine, homeopathy, and naturopathy. have mostly failed to show much benefit of the treatment except generally for pain reduction. This may be due to a lack of such studies (they are very difficult to do well), or a small effect of the treatment that is difficult to pinpoint.
Conventional medicine Pathogens and organic changes to body cause illness Reductionist — body is like a machine that can be reduced to its parts and individual parts can be treated Illness is defined by a set of symptoms that are similar for everyone that has the illness. Investigations into cause of disease happen via scientific method.
Placebo effect Measurable, observable, or reported improvement in health or behavior not attributable to medicine or invasive treatment that has been administered
Clinical trials The last step in developing treatments Control for placebo effect Double-blind Assess risks and efficacy of treatment
CAM Complementary Medicine: Used WITH conventional medicine Alternative Medicine: Used in place of conventional medicine Integrative medicine: CAM treatments integrated into and coordinated with conventional medicine
Natural Products Dietary supplements Herbal medicines
Mind-body practices Acupuncture and acupressure
Mind-body practices Tai Chi, Qi Gong, Yoga
Mind-body practices Hypnosis
Mind-body practices Meditation
Mind-body practices Massage
Mind-body practices chiropractic medicine
Other holistic approaches Traditional Chinese medicine
Other holistic approaches Ayurvedic medicine
Other holistic approaches homeopathy
Other holistic approaches naturopathy
HOW DO WE CHOOSE? Making decisions about CAM is difficult Very little information Information on internet is often advertisement or other promotion Sickness caused by pathogens Pain Evaluate YOUR symptoms Coordinate with a doctor Don’t delay care that is known to be effective.