Alternative Medicines and Therapies: Chiropractic Medicine

ASHKELON, ISRAEL - JUNE 11: Dr. Andre Waisman...
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Chiropractic physicians aid patients with problems related to the musculoskeletal system or nervous system by manipulating or adjusting the body through movement. This form of medical treatment is most often used in association with disorders like headaches, back and neck pain and joint pain.

The purpose of spinal manipulation or chiropractic adjustment is to restore mobility of the section of your body that is in pain or stiff by applying a controlled force to immobile joints. This immobility is caused by a tissue injury, often due to overstraining, repeated stress on an area of the body or because of an accident of some type such as a fall or automobile crash.

While chiropractic medicine is seen by most as a modern and acceptable form of treatment for musculoskeletal disorders, there is some debate as to whether the treatment is actually medically beneficial to the patient in the long run. Many doctors believe that an individual treated by a chiropractor may actually suffer worse bodily injury down the line because of the chiropractic techniques used.

For example, if you were to get in an automobile accident and the fault of someone else, an attorney would advise you not to go to a chiropractor for assistance with back pain resulting from the accident. The other party’s insurance company may actually refuse to pay for any medical treatment you need from the accident if you see a chiropractor because it is believed that the injury could have been made worse by such manipulation, and the insurance company will not be held liable.

This is especially true if the chiropractor is not adequately trained in the field, so it’s important to check into a chiropractor’s credentials prior to treatment. In order to obtain a Doctor of Chiropractic (DC) degree in the U.S., and individual must complete 90 credit hours of prerequisites, obtain a chiropractic degree from an accredited college and obtain a license to practice chiropractic medicine by passing four to five exams through the National Board of Chiropractic Medicine, as well as continuing education courses through their career.

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Alternative Medicines and Therapies: Pulse Diagnosis

WENZHOU, CHINA - AUGUST 20: American students...
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Pulse diagnosis is a form of medical practice used predominately in Asian traditional medicine and early Greek medical practices. The belief is that a diagnosis of a patient’s pulse can determine imbalances in the body’s humors (elements that work together to maintain a body’s health).

The earliest recorded occurrence of the practice of pulse diagnosis occurred in approximately 340 B.C.E. when Herophilus, a student at the first medical school of antiquity in Alexandria, counted and analyzed the pulse using a water clock. He later built a rhythmic pulse lexicon that remained useful until the circulatory system was discovered in 1628.

In Chinese pulse diagnosis, information about the patient’s condition is gathered by examining the pulse, predominately the radial arterial pulse found at the wrist and forearm. Practitioners often place three fingers at either of these locations and feel for pulse distinctions, such as determining if the pulse is hard, yielding, fast, slow, forceful and/or weak.

Alternative pulse diagnosis methods are presented in modern literature. One example is Tietao Deng’s presentation of four methods for examining a pulse – lifting, seeking, pressing and pushing – which may include rolling the fingers along the blood vessel or pressing to seek the best vessel for examination. Traditional Chinese Medicine mentions the technique of sliding, which is moving the fingers to various positions around vessel to check for abnormal changes or conditions.

While pulse diagnosis is not seen as a determining factor for an illness or condition in modern western medicine, examining the pulse can be part of the full diagnostic process in many cases.

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Alternative Medicines and Therapies: Chinese Food Therapy

experimenters of tantalizing taste buds
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Chinese food therapy is a medical practice of using natural foods as remedies for illnesses, rather than medication. While food therapy goes back as far as 2000 B.C., the earliest documented indication of the practice was found in the Niejing, also known as the Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine, back in 500 B.C.

The Niejing divided foods into four groups and five tastes, determined by their nature and characteristics. The four food groups are meats (for enhancement), grains (for sustenance), fruits (for support) and vegetables (for filling).

Under these characteristics, all life needs grains and vegetables in order to survive and should make up most of one’s diet. Under that same premise, meats and fruits are viewed as complementary and should be consumed only moderately. It is believed that human’s should not consume dairy products, specifically cow’s milk, under the practice of Chinese food therapy.

Chinese food therapy also believes that foods have five types of tastes and that each taste relates to a particular vital organ. Moderate consumption helps that associated organ to function properly, but over-indulging in one particular type of taste results in imbalance between the organs, causing illness.

Sweet tasting foods are associated with the spleen and stomach, aiding in the digestive process. Sour tastes correlate with the liver and gall bladder, helping to prevent diarrhea and control sweating, while bitter tastes are connected to the heart and small intestine, reducing excessive bodily fluids and cooling the body’s temperature.

The kidneys and bladder are connected to salty food, which relax the muscles and helps in proper function of the glands. Finally, pungent foods correlate with the lungs and large intestine, promoting proper function of the circulatory system and inducing perspiration. The body needs a proper balance of all five tastes in order to be healthy.

One must also balance the nature of foods with his or her body constitution. Chinese food therapy believes food to be hot, warm, neutral, cool or cold. You must eat foods with a nature contrary to your body’s constitution for optimal health and mood.

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Alternative Medicines and Therapies: Ear Candling

Ear Candling 2
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Ear candling is definitely one of those alternative medical practices that is surrounded by controversy. Just the name brings a number of questions to mind, namely, “What in the world…?

Also known as ear coning and thermal-auricular therapy, ear candling is believed to improve someone’s health by drawing toxins out of the body. The patient lies on one side of their body and the practitioner lights a hollow candle and place the unlit end inside the ear canal, with a protective layer (such as an aluminum pan) keeping melted wax from dripping on the patient.

Throughout the process the wick is cut back regularly to reduce the size of the flame. As the candle burns, it is said to create negative pressure, dragging toxins and earwax out of the body through the ear canal. In fact, one might open up the hollow candle to find a variety of material within the candle body. The candle is blown out approximately two to four inches from the patient’s body, with the whole session lasting anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour.

Ear candling is often offered at spas as a part of a massage package and overall body rejuvenating process. Many claim the procedure to be very effective, especially in relieve fluid build-up (often caused by a cold or allergies) within the ear. Some even claim to have relief from tinnitus (ringing in the ears).

The procedure is highly controversial, with doctors and researchers believing it to be ineffective and somewhat dangerous, with reported cases of candle wax getting back into the ear causing pain and damage. Additionally, studies have shown that the residue inside the candle following the procedure is nothing more than remnants from the candle burning, and not anything that came from inside the ear canal.

In 2008, the health editor for MSNBC, Linda Dahlstrom, underwent an ear candling procedure. She claimed that the atmosphere was relaxing. While no harm was done, Dahlstrom noted no changes in her health and, after talking to experts about its effectiveness, stated that she wouldn’t recommend the procedure.

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