Health-Care - The Importance of Choice - Part 3
26 Jun2018
Posted by Evolve College News
Complementary Medicine
In this series, we have explored what choice there is available to people regarding their health-care.
This week, we look at Complementary Medicine.
What is Complementary Medicine?
Complementary Medicine includes such modalities as:
- Remedial Massage
- Chiropractic
- Counselling
- Western Herbal Medicine
- Nutrition
- Naturopathy
- Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine
- Aromatherapy
- and many others
Practitioners of complementary medicine generally state that they offer a holistic service, considering lifestyle considerations and diet as well as symptoms. They do not advocate publicly for conventional medicine to not be used. Their patients may choose to solely see the complementary medicine therapist, or they may choose to see a conventional medical doctor or other specialist as well.
How many people use Complementary Medicine?
In a survey published in 2007, a sample of 1067 adults 18 years of age and older from across Australia were recruited on a random basis and interviewed about their use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM*).
The survey found that:
- Of those interviewed, in the 12 month period preceding the survey, 68.9% had used at least one of the 17 forms of CAM identified by the surveyers (the most popular forms of CAM);
- An estimated 69.2 million adult Australians had visited CAM practitioners in the preceding 12 month period, compared with an almost identical number of estimated visits to medical practitioners (69.3).
- The annual ‘out of pocket’ expenditure on CAM nationally was estimated as A$4.13 billion, thus indicating a very high level of use of CAM in Australia.
* CAM stands for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.
What is the difference between Complementary and Alternative Medicine?
Alternative Medicine practitioners and modalities operate to the exclusion of (or as an alternative to) Conventional Medicine. Practitioners of these modalities present that they offer an alternative that people can choose on a stand-alone basis. As an example of alternative medicine, a person may choose to treat disease using a diet, supplements or other treatment, instead of using conventional treatment by a medical doctor.
Evolve College does not work with alternative medicine. As stated in Part 2 of this series, we wholly support and recognise the necessity of Conventional Medicine.
REFERENCE
J Altern Complement Med. 2007 Jul-Aug;13(6):643-50. Retrieved from NCBI, PublMed.gov, US National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17718647.
PRIOR ARTICLES IN THIS SERIES
Read the prior articles in this series: