Complementary Medicine

C.o.m.p.l.e.m.e.n.t.a.r.y M.e.d.i.c.i.n.e

Many patients in richer countries are now driven to search for more "natural" methods of healing due to the suspicion of medical sciences and of scientific medicine. Nowadays, most doctors are proud of their high-tech gadgetry and are reluctant to see themselves as plain healers. However, many people are obviously looking for real "healers", those who offer more than technical solutions to medical problems.

The development of science has built a firmer boundary in the antagonism between the approved and unapproved ways of practising medicine. Therefore everything that is scientifically proven is considered as orthodox. As more and more people in the developed countries favor unorthodox therapies, the medical field also has establish offensives to fence off the challenge.

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At present complementary medicine shows no signs of diminishing in public esteem. Looking to the future, how should the rise of unorthodoxy be regarded? If it relies on how the medical establishment has chosen to portray it, with unproven methods used by people with little training,superstitions and few theories, it is to be deplored. In fact, this is not the whole story of it.

Some techniques such as acupuncture, osteopathy and chiropractic now command the respect of many doctors. Some people who practise complementary medicine also see the need of establishing their methods scientifically. Sometimes they prove better than orthodox medicine in terms of offering comfort to patients when no treatment is effective. It might be wrong to say that all tension between the two has diminished, but certainly the rejection is withering away. Orthodox medicine is able to show that it can fulfill the demands of the patients and adapt gradually and accordingly.