Complementary Therapy [PDF]

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Complementary Therapies

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Table of Contents Introduction......................................................................................................................................3 Task 1...............................................................................................................................................3 1.1 Explanation of Widely Available Complementary Therapies...............................................3 1.2 Advantages and Disadvantages of Complementary Therapies.............................................4 1.3 Analysis of Influencing Factors.............................................................................................5 Task 2...............................................................................................................................................5 2.1 Role of Complementary Therapies in relation to Conventional Treatments.........................5 2.2 Evaluating Outlook on Complementary Therapies...............................................................6 2.3 Analyzing of Psychological Effects.......................................................................................6 2.4 Difference between Conventional and Complementary Therapies.......................................7 Task 3...............................................................................................................................................7 3.1 Analyzing the Trustworthiness and Legitimacy of the Information’s regarding Complementary Therapies...........................................................................................................7 3.2 Assessment of proof which claims the benefit of Complementary Therapies......................8 3.3 Suggestion based on the facts................................................................................................9 Task 4...............................................................................................................................................9 4.1 Evaluation of the effectiveness of present regulation regarding Complementary therapy....9 4.2 Recommendations for improving regulatory systems for use of complementary therapies, supported by evidence...............................................................................................................10 Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................11 References......................................................................................................................................12

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Introduction Complementary therapies are different from the conventional therapies or the western medicines. These kinds of therapies include body and mind therapies. A complementary therapy enhances the power of mind and body by healing the human body and its system. There are several complementary therapies some of them are: aromatherapy, yoga, reiki, osteopathy, reflexology, massage, therapeutic touch and chiropractic etc (McFeeters et al., 2016). this following assignment is going to elaborate about the complementary therapies, the advantages and disadvantages

of

complementary

therapies,

comparison

between

conventional

and

complementary therapies, the efficacy of the complementary therapies and the proof of the facts regarding the complementary therapies. Task 1 1.1 Explanation of Widely Available Complementary Therapies According to the case study it provided to us that a person named Mr.Yonas, a 68 years old person has been diagnosed with chronic asthma and type-2 diabetes. He has been suffering with these conditions since last 10 years. And in his recent diagnosis he has been diagnosed with osteoarthritis (Brondino et al., 2015). He was fed up of taking regular medicines. And one day he met a friend of his who suggested him with complementary therapies. This he got registered with an organization providing various complementary therapies. Then he got to know about the benefits complementary therapies. The complementary therapies that might be best for Mr. Yonas reviewing his condition are: I.

In pharmaceutical related therapy he can take homeopathy medicines as they have no side effects and are plant, mineral based medicines. The homeopathy medicines are best to treat Mr. Yonas’s asthma, as research says that homeopathic remedies are highly effective to cure asthma permanently. Based on research and study it is seen that Natrum Sulph 30 is the most effective homeopathy medicine to completely treat chronic asthma.

II.

In physically mediated therapies to treat Mr.Yonas’s osteoarthritis, osteopathy as a therapy can be very much helpful for his condition. This therapy can treat the problems Page | 3

like arthritis and bone or joint problems. This therapy focuses to improve the body by strengthening the muscles and joints in the body of the patient. III.

The third therapy that must be taken by Mr.Yonas is regarding his mental health by a proper counseling (Thind, 2018). A proper counseling would help Mr.Yonas to have a positive mind. Counseling is a therapy that is guiding a patient by proper psychological methods. The method used here is by collecting previous history of a patient’s life, interviewing him or her and testing the patient about his or her interests and aptitude. This therapy is initiated by a counselor.

1.2 Advantages and Disadvantages of Complementary Therapies Basically the complementary therapies have less complication than conventional therapies. The advantages of the complementary therapies are listed below: I.

The complementary therapies teach a person to become more responsible about his or her own health. These therapies teach a person to re-establish a balance between his or her body and mind. As the disease and sickness brings imbalances to a person’s body and mind (Brondino et al., 2015). Complementary therapies, helps a person to heal by focusing on the roots of the sickness. Additionally, these therapies help a person to uphold an overall good health. In this case counseling can come into function by upholding a good mental health.

II.

Complementary therapies are lesser in cost that the conventional therapies like the homeopathy medicines and therapies.

III.

Complementary therapies can work as a prime treatment and also as a supportive treatment too. In this case osteopathy and counseling can work as supportive treatments.

The disadvantages of the complementary therapies are: I.

Complementary therapies require a change in lifestyle and disciples of the person. The person has to become more conscious about his or her lifestyle like his or her diet, sleep routine and workout etc.

II.

These complementary therapies might require time to show there action of healing in a human body. This time taking procedure of healing might discourage the patient

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sometimes. Research says that homeopathy treatment is time taking than allopathic treatment. III.

Complementary medicine might have an interaction with the conventional drugs, which might cause problems to the patient or have side-effects on the patient (Wiesener, Salamonsen and Fønnebø, 2018). Certain homeopathic or complementary medicine causes interactions with conventional medicines. 1.3 Analysis of Influencing Factors

Peoples have various reasons behind accepting and using the complementary therapies and on the other hands rejecting them. The vital reasons that can be the influencing factors are the finance of the people, their culture, lack of organizations providing the services of complementary therapies, not having skilled trainers and lack of trust in these treatment procedures (Vassalotti, 2016). The peoples from diffrenet cultures have different view point regarding the complementary therapy. As in Asia peoples have belief in yoga, massage and acupuncture as a therapy. On the other hand in western countries have faith and practice aromatherapy, osteopathy, homeopathy and certain other therapies. In this case Mr. Yonas has proper access to the organization providing complementary therapy. Another reason might that might affect the peoples and dive them towards complementary treatment is that the hospitals and clinics around the population might have poor treatment facilities.

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Task 2 2.1 Role of Complementary Therapies in relation to Conventional Treatments In this case study Mr. Yonas has chronic asthma since last 10 years. His condition of chronic asthma is that he has breathing related problem, which directs to a lung diseases. This condition has problems like inflammation in the airways and narrowing of the airways suffocating the person (Kramlich, 2017). Additionally the symptoms are that the patient produces a whistling sound while breathing, the chest-wall gets tightened, coughing several times a day at night or early in the morning, and breath shortness. Asthma is a long term diseases and this condition may start in a person from his or her childhood days. Study says that the persons with asthma have sensitive, swollen and inflamed airways. This problem is a cardio-respiratory problem in this case; Mr. Yonas have the similar symptoms and problems. Research explains that asthma can be genetic and also due to several other factors such as due to tobacco, allergens and respiratory infections. Conversely, there are orthodox treatments available for Mr.Yonas and he may have gone through or may be on going with them to treat his condition of chronic asthma (Thind, 2018). The orthodox treatment include inhaler provided to the patient to help him or her with the condition of asthma. There are preventer inhalers to prevent the symptoms of asthma. And there are reliever inhalers to help relieve the symptoms of asthma. The doctors provide combination of medicines to treat the symptoms. Now, going on to complementary therapies that can resolve the problems regarding the condition of chronic asthma are the homeopathy treatments and herbal treatment. The homeopathic treatment has the medicines to and it is clearly stated in several studies that homeopathy can relieve chronic asthma permanently and additionally the homeopathic treatment is low in cost and has no side-effects. But this treatment is time taking and may dishearten the patient but the orthodox treatment has faster result of relief in this case. However, the orthodox treatment cannot permanently heal the patient. Herbal therapy on the other hand has no sideeffect and can relive the patient to an extent.

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2.2 Evaluating Outlook on Complementary Therapies The outlook on complementary therapies of the people and professionals is different. As some peoples think that complementary therapies work to an extent, have lesser or no side- effects in comparison to conventional therapies and are affordable. And some think that complementary medicines do not work in the way of healing the patients (Vassalotti, 2016). Some of the professionals such as doctors who are practicing conventional therapies discard the facts of the efficacy of the complementary therapies but again some of them thinks that they works. And certain conventional therapy practioner’s nowadays suggest complementary therapies along with the conventional medicines. The market of complementary therapies is growing vastly and might bloom in the near future. 2.3 Analyzing of Psychological Effects Mr. Yonas is suffering with asthma and type-2 diabetes for last 10 years and he has taken the conventional treatments accordingly but still he has not recovered. Thus, he is mentally exhausted and depressed. In this case the counseling as a complementary therapy might help him to regain the mental balance (Thind, 2018). Additionally, aromatherapy might help relax him and relieve him from stress caused due to his illness. 2.4 Difference between Conventional and Complementary Therapies The comparison between the conventional and the contemporary therapies are: I.

Convention therapies or the orthodox treatment are fast in action, while the complementary therapies take time to act in the process of healing (Thind, 2018).

II.

Some of the complementary therapies are low in cost and are affordable, whereas the conventional therapies might get to costly and out of budget for peoples.

III.

Conventional therapies have side-effects but on the other hand complementary therapies have lesser or no side-effects.

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Task 3 3.1 Analyzing the Trustworthiness and Legitimacy of the Information’s regarding Complementary Therapies For analyzing the trustworthiness and legitimacy of the information, Mr. Jonas needs to justify the reliability while reflecting on the degrees to which, the validity of the sources based on Complementary Therapies lie upon (McFeeters et al., 2016). This can be done by measuring various benchmark statistics and a percentile figure which specifies the available data are accurately logical or not. The various widespread sources of information on Complementary Therapies can be found on journals and multiple websites those can be helpful for Mr. Jonas. Some information can also be sourced from therapy practitioners, commercial sources, systematic research, support groups and health professionals. The quantity and the quality of the information sources mainly websites and CAM are updating on daily basis (Pang et al., 2015). The information based on Complementary therapies is expanding on a large scale. The expansion of the information is largely due to an increased practice of evidence-based research. The professional and concerned bodies have a massive challenge to select a few reliable sources of information like newsletters, websites, and journals to use them as efficiently as possible. The most decisive part is to evaluate the information and utilize it effectively. While considering a website about reliable information, there are certain factors that are needed to be monitored such as the whether the website is valid or not, are the authors trustworthy, are the questions on the site relatable, and does the answers to the questions sound true (Brondino et al., 2015). Finally, it is needed to be checked whether the results of the report on the website is contemporary or not. Mr. Jonas can check some popular and trusted websites like Healthfinder.org which are government approved. Mr. Jonas should also consult other individuals who have experienced the issues of the subject for better understanding of the treatment. Before visiting a practitioner of Complementary therapy Mr. Jonas should check the cost and safety standards of the treatment while also validating whether the practitioner is professional or not. As per the case of Mr. Jonas, Page | 8

the best complementary therapy that could be referred by the professionals is Osteopathy and Counseling. So for effectiveness of the treatment, undertaking personal research would prove beneficial. 3.2 Assessment of proof which claims the benefit of Complementary Therapies There are multiple research verdicts that justify the benefits as well as incompetence of Complementary therapies (Berg et al., 2016). Mr. Jonas has to assess the evidences and the information that are present in trustworthy sources like scientific research papers, media and professional health practitioners. Mr. Jonas could evaluate the verifications via conducting a clinical research monitoring the available statistics. Determinations of the nature of the evidences by objective examination are crucial for having a complete satisfaction of the treatment via Complementary Therapies. As per the available data, 40%-45% of the peoples above the age group of 50 use Complementary therapy. Above the age group of 65, around 55% of the peoples are doing treatment via Complementary Therapy alone. This massive demand of Complementary therapy suggests that it provides a better value than a conventional medicine (Wiesener, Salamonsen and Fønnebø, 2018). The data also reveals that more than half of the peoples above the age of 65 use at least one form of Complementary Therapy along with regular medicine. As such treatment via conventional therapy is widespread. Another similar study based on Complementary Therapy suggested that around 32% of the people around the globe are benefiting from the treatment. A complementary therapy known as mindfulness-based stress reduction or MBSR is useful for treating cancer-patients (Kramlich, 2017). As such, based on the statistics, Mr. Jonas can evaluate the benefits on the therapy such as Osteopathy and Counseling which will help him in better treatment of Asthma, Type-2 Diabetes as well as Osteoarthritis. 3.3 Suggestion based on the facts With the advancements of Complementary treatment methods like complementary therapy around the world, peoples have started accepting the benefits of these treatments. Various individuals enroll in Complementary therapies even if they are taking orthodox medicines. Although there are various positive statistics based analytic research on Complementary Page | 9

Therapies, there are still doubts till this day about the effectiveness of treatments. As such, the major benefits of Complementary therapy are found when practiced with orthodox medicine (Thind, 2018). For Mr. Jonas this is beneficial as he will be enrolling with complementary therapy keeping in parallel with conventional medicines. For an elderly individual like Mr. Jonas, Osteopathy and Counseling are regarded as the most effective forms of treatment. The therapy of Osteopathy mainly focuses on the treatment of bones, ligaments and muscle tissues by improving the neuromuscular skeletal system of the body (Vassalotti, 2016). This would help in curing Mr. Jonas’s osteoarthritis if massage osteopathy and aromatherapy is introduced. The Counseling treatment on the other hand is taken for maintaining a good mental health. Thus, it is strongly recommended by the professionals of Complementary therapy that Mr. Jonas should avoid physical intensive exercise like yoga.

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Task 4 4.1 Evaluation of the effectiveness of present regulation regarding Complementary therapy According to the report of Kramlich 2017, complementary therapies have become more widespread over the last 25 years, but various practitioners across the globe are largely not under direct government regulation (Vassalotti, 2016). There are multiple organizations in different countries that ply under a central regulatory council. Therapies such as Osteopathic therapy may have their own regulatory body which sets certain standards for the treatment of the patients like Mr. Jonas. It is legal in multiple nations, to practice complementary therapy under a certain healthcare organization. As such it is critical for the practitioner to set up a professional structure clearly, for the protection of public safety even if the selection of treatment is determined by the individual. If practitioners gain a definite level of professional skill in the practice of complementary therapy with equal amount of qualification, then they can enroll themselves into voluntary organizations for the health and safety benefits of the peoples by keeping the practice of Complementary therapy safe and up-to standards. As per the Osteopathic Council, a general regulatory body is mandatory for practicing osteopathy related Complementary treatments (Kramlich, 2017). This type of regulation ensures that without a proper education and professional skills an individual cannot practice the therapy even if the individual is under a health and fitness organization. As such, Mr. Jonas should examine the trusted and registered websites of the regulatory body of complementary therapies to find out about the validation of the practitioner for the general health and safety concerns. 4.2 Recommendations for improving regulatory systems for use of complementary therapies, supported by evidence. A general survey was conducted in the year 2018, which stated that over 14% of world’s population over the age of 35, uses one form complementary therapy or other. The numbers are even higher in western countries like UK, USA, Germany, France, Canada, Spain etc. as well as in countries like Australia, Japan, Indonesia, Vietnam and Bangkok. The number of people Page | 11

relying on traditional medicines for primary care is gigantic in countries like India and China (Berg et al., 2016). Various African countries like Ghana and Ethiopia uses complementary therapies as the major treatment procedure. Despite the number of peoples using complementary therapies are minor compared to certain parts of the globe, it becomes important to create a regulatory body for safely conducting the treatment in those lesser regions. The regulation should be to stop un-qualified and unprofessional individuals to stop practicing (McFeeters et al., 2016). The Government can bring forward certain policies to adopt the practice of Complementary therapies in such regions and make the local people aware of befits that are included via educational campaign. The positives of Contemporary therapy are enormous, and thus, it is strongly recommended to practice such therapies in an orderly manner. The standards of the practices should be kept high and any practitioner failing to fulfill the standards should be dropped. Conclusion As per the case study, Mr. Jonas will be taking complementary therapies along with his regular orthodox medicines for curing Asthma, Type-2 Diabetes and Osteoarthritis. After consulting a professional complementary therapist Mr. Jonas has been assigned the therapies such as Osteopathy and Counseling. The treatment is cost effective and the rate of curing the disease is also superior if done in a suitable way, as cited by various researches. So in that case, the complementary therapies will provide a perfect solution for him.

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References Berg, J., Morphew, T., Tran, J., Kilgore, D. and Galant, S.P., 2016. Prevalence of complementary and alternative medicine usage in Vietnamese American asthmatic children. Clinical pediatrics, 55(2), pp.157-164. Brondino, N., Fusar-Poli, L., Rocchetti, M., Provenzani, U., Barale, F. and Politi, P., 2015. Complementary and alternative therapies for autism spectrum disorder. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2015. Kramlich, D., 2017. Complementary health practitioners in the acute and critical care setting: nursing considerations. Critical care nurse, 37(3), pp.60-65. McFeeters, S., Pront, L., Cuthbertson, L. and King, L., 2016. Massage, a complementary therapy effectively promoting the health and well‐being of older people in residential care settings: a review of the literature. International journal of older people nursing, 11(4), pp.266-283. Pang, R., Wang, S., Tian, L., Lee, M.C., Do, A., Cutshall, S.M., Li, G., Bauer, B.A., Thomley, B.S. and Chon, T.Y., 2015. Complementary and integrative medicine at Mayo Clinic. The American journal of Chinese medicine, 43(08), pp.1503-1513. Thind, H., Fava, J.L., Guthrie, K.M., Stroud, L., Gopalakrishnan, G., Sillice, M., Gidron, N. and Bock, B.C., 2018. Yoga as a Complementary Therapy for Adults with Type 2 Diabetes: Design and Rationale of the Healthy, Active, and in Control (HA1C) Study. International journal of yoga therapy, 28(1), pp.123-132. Vassalotti, J.A., Centor, R., Turner, B.J., Greer, R.C., Choi, M., Sequist, T.D. and National Kidney Foundation Kidney Disease Outcomes Quality Initiative, 2016. Practical approach to detection and management of chronic kidney disease for the primary care clinician. The American journal of medicine, 129(2), pp.153-162. Wiesener, S., Salamonsen, A. and Fønnebø, V., 2018. Which risk understandings can be derived from the current disharmonized regulation of complementary and alternative medicine in Europe?. BMC complementary and alternative medicine, 18(1), p.11. Page | 13

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