Alternative Treatments Finally Gain some Mainstream Scientific Recognition

Of all the different methods of alternative therapy out there, how are you supposed to know which ones really work? It's difficult to dismiss them all out of hand as unscientific. When you hear about how quacks plying their trade in unsupervised quackery take their patients for a ride, most people feel the urge, in their outrage, to dismiss alternative medicine out of hand. If you are to temper your reacyion a bit, how do you do it ? How can you really be sure? Here is a bit of information on how well-respected alternative treatment can be: most medical schools in America recognize the merit in alternative treatments, methods like yoga or acupuncture; they also feature them prominently in the curriculum - as part of an integrative medicine program. Let's look at some of the most popular alternative treatments there are, and find out how good they are.

If pain is your problem, acupuncture is apparently the king of the hill. Especially with arthritis-related knee problems. The National Institutes of Health, in a study, has found that there is a 40% improvement that acupuncture is able to bring about, that placebo treatment never did. Alternative treatments exist for psychiatric problems too - depression, especially. The herb St. John's Wort has been a mainstay in alternative treatments for centuries. It used to be one of the herbs used to ward off evil spirits before medical uses were discovered. Even with no evil spirits around, St. John's Wort is pretty effective for an average case of depression. You'll need to read up on how to take it ; but a little time spent with St. John's Wort, say two months, can take care of most cases of depression.

PMS can be such a pain; it makes you moody, it seems to give you strength-sapping periods, and it gets you feeling bloated. There is hope though in alternative treatments. Try B6 and other natural supplements; more often than not, scientific evidence says that they will help. To anyone over fifty, arthritis and joint pain are always real possibilities. When the knee cartilage wears down, knee bone on knee bone can be so painful you can almost feel the friction. Glucosamine is so effective with arthritis, it actually grows back worn cartilage. Can you beat that? Now here's the problem. The alternative treatments market is quite unregulated; the FDA doesn't really vet any of the drugs sold, even if alternative treaments are beginning to win mainstream acceptance. There are no standards for shelflife, for how effective these supplements are believed to be when manufactured under different methods, and so on. You'll just need to shop smart, and make do with what standards we do have now.

To begin with, when you shop for products for alternative treatments, make sure that you get products that are approved by the NSF International or the United States Pharmacopoeia - these are independent organizations that maintain standards in alternative treatments. And if you could make sure that you get your medical advice in alternative treatments from really well-established practitioners, you should be reasonably safe.