Who Uses Alternative Medicine

Exactly who uses alternative medicine? If you believe the odds, about one of every two of the people reading this right now use or have used some form of alternative medicine in the past twelve months. In 2003, an Australian researcher estimated that ‘about half the general population in developed countries use alternative and complementary medicine” (Ernst 2003). Other studies by other researchers have shown that:

1. 36% of Americans used some form of alternative therapy in the past years
2. 62% had used some form of alternative therapy in the past year if prayer was included as an alternative or complementary therapy
3. A 1998 survey found that 40% of Americans had used some form of alternative medicine in the past year
4. A 1997 British report found that the use of alternative medicine had increased from 34% to 42% since 1990

There are many reasons suggested for the increased use of complementary and alternative therapies in the past 25 years. Among them are:

5. Increased medical education for doctors
6. Growing awareness of therapies among the public due to the Internet and other information sources
7. A more educated and sophisticated population who explore their choices
8. The acceptance of patient-centered treatment
9. Patients demanding more of a say in their own treatments

According to those that support the use of alternative and complementary therapies, alternative medicine offers a number of things to patients that they don’t find in conventional medicine. These include:

10. Patient empowerment
11. Alternative (non-pharmaceutical) methods of pain control
12. Palliative care (aimed at increasing the patient’s comfort rather than curing disease)
13. Stress reduction methods to help the patient deal with illness
14. Preventive health services including nutritional consultation, therapeutic massage and physical fitness training

Those who choose some form of alternative therapy come from all walks of life and all income levels. This is a marked contrast from just a quarter of a century ago, when those who opted for alternative therapies (usually dismissed as quackery in those days) were seen as less educated and less well-heeled than the patients of conventional doctors. If anything, today’s alternative medical practitioners appeal to a sophisticated consumers who demand the best treatment for their illnesses and are prepared to pay for it. That attitude has trickled down as the insurance companies and health maintenance organizations realize that yes, indeed – patients with sciatica recover more quickly and require less therapy when therapeutic massage and water therapy is included in their treatment, regardless of scientific studies.

As traditional medical systems from other cultures become better known here in the United States, and doctors see for themselves that they are effective in helping patients with various illnesses, the number of alternative and complementary therapies that are accepted by mainstream medicine will increase. At the same time, the unwavering focus of the public eye on those therapies will encourage research to weed out those that are useless or harmful.