True Meaning of Natural Medicine

At work, I consult with patients on what natural healing means and how it works to improve their health. At leisure, I talk with people in diverse professions to promote their awareness for natural health. During my recent trip to New York, I discussed this popular subject with Ann, a friend from the good old SIPA (the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University) days. Having acquired critical acumen in top-tier health organizations, Ann asked an array of intriguing questions about natural medicine. We enjoyed our dialogue so much that we even extended the discussion via email in the following weeks. In this blog, I selected part of our email communication to present with you the meaning of natural health in modern society.

“Thomas Edison foresaw the medical development in this way: ‘The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, in diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease.’

What you, I and other SIPA friends have in common is the ultimate drive to make a difference in the world through social, political, financial and educational means. We know that we cannot recreate a NEW world with ideal peace and equality. Then what can we do? Knowing the conflicts in the EXISTING world, we participate in tasks that hopefully can make a positive influence on it and change it for better over the long term. Regardless of how turbulent the world is (pollution, poverty, ethnic conflicts, economic downturn, etc. you name it), we, as do-good-agents, enter this imperfect arena to minimize its conflicts and enhance its valuable heritage. Of course, this is the almighty goal and requires many SIPA graduates to reach it. Fortunately, we are getting closer and closer to it every year. This point of view is based on the assumption that human's moral nature prefers a peaceful world.

By the same token, natural healthcare acknowledges the uncontrollable variables that affect people's health. Polluted environment is bad for respiratory system, growth hormones in poultry and dairy products interfere with body's normal hormonal metabolism, severe winter weather dehydrates skin (I’m curious about Sara Palin's secret to healthy skin is in Alaska), radiation from TV and computer weakens eyesight, stress increases risk for weight gain and chronic disorders ... ... These are just some examples of EXTERNAL factors that have negative impact on our health. Can we remove all of them in order to stay healthy? It'd be idealistic to see them gone in our lifetime. Then what can we do to preserve our natural body? Here comes Darwin's Survival of the Fittest theory. "The fittest" in human health are those who are able to maintain good health despite of the severity of external environment. Can we achieve this? The answer is the conceptual foundation (this term is definitely better applied here than elsewhere) of natural healthcare: empower the body to naturally stay at its ‘Fittest’. This is based on the assumption that our body is able to heal itself naturally. Healthcare innovation makes more sense if it shifts its focus to the body's INTERNAL environment and INTRINSIC ability, instead of applying foreign substances to regulate the already-damaged mechanism.

I can type out pages of my perspectives into natural medicine, but I don't want to bore you with more lengthy texts. Just think about this scenario. Ms. Veggie has been on an organic vegetarian diet for a while. She does so because her digestive system is sensitive. Her stomach easily gets upset when she tries new food. Her doctor told her that staying away from meat helps ease her stomach. Recently, she got addicted to cupcakes. "One cupcake a day, bid smile all day" has been her daily snack this whole month. Yesterday she read somewhere about enriching cupcake flavor with a bottle of milk. She usually drinks milk in the morning. As a healthy calorie-watcher, she postpones her milk consumption till 3PM when she usually eats a freshly baked cupcake. Milk (organic of course) and cupcake together taste better, but an hour later, Ms. Veggie's stomach started making funny movements. By the end of the day, she already used a roll of toilet paper. If she came to see a natural doctor, she’d be treated to improve digestion function, rather than being ordered to discontinue the cupcake-milk combo.

The bottom line of natural healthcare is to strengthen the body's innate physiological functions. If the body is healthy and strong, it can identify good nutrients and bad substances, absorb the useful and eliminate the waste. If it is sick and weak, it cannot recognize good or bad, improper absorption and elimination of wrong elements can occur (it doesn't matter what type of food intake is). In this case, it'd be really hard to treat the conditions by altering diet, don't even think about curing its root cause. In practice, the general concept mentioned above guides natural treatment plans, which must be carefully customized to meet each individual's body constitution, prior health condition, emotions, stress, religion, lifestyles and so on.”

By now you know a bit more about Moogger way of natural health concept. But be aware that not all natural health practitioners follow the same ideology, just like regional variations in western medical practices. You don't have to agree with me, but I'm happy that you’ve taken time to learn about a new health concept. Of course, your feedback and comments are always welcome to help expand Moogger’s knowledge from dissimilar minds.

Complementary and Alternative Medicine 101

More and more Americans begin seeking complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) to solve health problems. According to a survey conducted by The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) in 2002, 50 percent of U.S. adults age 18 years and older have used some type of CAM. Due to the heterogeneity of CAM, some people may hold misconceptions about the practices of CAM. The following sections are provided to highlight the basics of CAM.

What is the definition of CAM?

The NCCAM defines CAM as “a group of diverse medical and health care systems, practices, and products that are not presently considered to be part of conventional medicine.” David Eisenberg, M.D., Director of the Division for Research and Education in Complementary and Integrative Medical Therapies of the Osher Institute at Harvard Medical School, describes CAM as “practices explicitly used for medical intervention, health promotion, or disease prevention which are not routinely taught at United States medical schools, nor routinely underwritten by third party payers within the existing United States health care system.” Alternative medicine, complementary medicine, integrative medicine, holistic medicine, and natural medicine are other terms for CAM.

What are the common practices of CAM?

1. Energy Medicine
Energy medicine deals with the application of energy fields (such as magnetic field and bio-field) under the concept that the human body holds energy and people interact with each other through energy exchange. Energy is considered as the vital life force under different names in different cultures. Qi is known as energy in traditional Chinese medicine, Ki in the Japanese Kampo system, and Doshas in Ayurvedic medicine. Illnesses arise when there is an imbalance of energy in the human body. Restoring the normal flow of the energy helps improve one’s health. Qi Gong from China, Reiki and Johrei from Japan, healing touch, and intercessory prayer are examples of energy medicine practices.

There is an increasing demand for energy medicine in America in recent years. Some academic medical centers began investigation projects on the subject. However, energy medicine remains very controversial in the mainstream medical field, because the existing scientific technology cannot demonstrate the biophysical means of human energy field, external energy field, and their therapeutic effects. Dr. Mehmet C. Oz, Professor and Vice Chairman of Surgery at Columbia University in New York City, Director of the Cardiovascular Institute, and Founder and Director for the Complementary Medicine Program at New York Presbyterian Hospital, says "As we get better at understanding how little we know about the body, we begin to realize that the next big frontier … in medicine is energy medicine.”

2. Mind-body Medicine
Hippocrates (ca. 460BC-ca. 370BC) recognized the moral and spiritual aspects of healing. He believed that treatments could occur only with consideration of patient’s attitude, environmental impacts, and natural remedies. Traditional Chinese and Ayurvedic medicines integrated the mind healing into their medical philosophies, dating back more than 2,000 years. Scientific developments in the West around the 16th and 17th centuries led to a separation of the spiritual or emotional stage from the physical body.

In the modern world, mind-body medicine focuses on the interactions among the mind, the body, the effects of emotional, mental, social, and spiritual behaviors on a person’s health, and the empowerment of one’s capacity for self-care. Among a variety of mind-body intervention techniques, relaxation, hypnosis, visual imagery, meditation, yoga, biofeedback, tai chi, qi gong, cognitive-behavioral therapies, group support, and autogenic training are commonly practiced in the United States.

3. Manipulative and Body-based Practice
Manipulative and body-based practices treat the structures and systems of the body, including bones and joints, soft tissues, and circulatory and lymphatic systems. Chiropractic and osteopathic manipulation, Massage therapy, Tui na (Traditional Chinese Medicine Massage Technique), Reflexology, Rolfing, Bowen technique, Trager bodywork, Alexander technique, and Feldenkrais method are under the umbrella of Manipulative and Body-based Practice.

In the United States, manipulative and body-based therapies are primarily practiced by doctors of chiropractic, osteopathic physicians, physical therapists, and physiatrists. The majority of the research on the cost and utilization of spinal manipulation have focused on chiropractic, which covers 90% of manipulative practice. Similar to spinal manipulation, massage is commonly used for musculoskeletal dysfunctions. However, a significant fraction of people seek massage care for relaxation and stress relief.

4. Biologically Based Practice
Biologically based practice includes vitamins, minerals, fatty acids, amino acids, proteins, botanicals, animal-derived extracts, prebiotics and probiotics, whole diets, and functional foods. Increasing use of dietary supplements in the past two decades indicates that there is a strong desire for consumers to promote overall health and wellbeing. Clinical studies find some evidence for the effectiveness of dietary supplements in improving energy level and promoting health.

In addition to dietary supplements, herbal supplements also became popular in recent years. Like over-ther-counter and prescription drugs, they have active ingredients that affect one’s physical environment. If herbal supplements are applied properly, they can work wonders. However, the correct application of herbal supplements depends on herbs’ properties and individuals’ body constitutions. Self-prescription is not recommended and may cause adverse effects.

What are the conceptual foundations for CAM?

Generally, CAM follows these basic concepts:

• Body has the ability to heal itself.
• Take a proactive role in disease prevention to achieve balanced health.
• Target at the root cause of an illness instead of focusing on the symptoms of the illness.
• Holistic treatments address all aspects of one’s life. Body, mind and spirit cannot be treated separately. The abnormal condition of one directly affects the wellbeing of others.
• Try natural methods first, and avoid invasive procedures that may cause other problems later on. However, seek these procedures when necessary, and integrate CAM into treatment plans.

How prevalent is CAM in the United States?

The NCCAM survey conducted in 2002 finds that 50 percent of U.S. adults age 18 years and older have used some form of CAM. There is a significant increase in the use of herbal supplements, growing from 12.1 percent of adults reporting the usage in 1997 to 18.6 percent in 2002. Yoga practice has increased 40 percent during the same period, from 3.7 percent to 5.1 percent. If prayer specifically for health reasons is considered as a form of CAM, the number of adults using this healing method rose to 62 percent in 2002. The 2002 National Health Interview Survey showed that 4.1% of the respondents reported lifetime use of acupuncture, and 1.1% (representing 2.13 million Americans) reported recent use of acupuncture.

Why do Americans seek CAM?

When suffering from chronic ailments that have not been successfully treated by conventional medicine, many Americans turn to CAM for help. CAM works particularly well with chronic disease management and health maintenance through proper diet, exercise, stress management and emotional healing. Disease prevention is the goal of some CAM users. While some people seek CAM based on friends’ or physicians’ recommendation, others try CAM out of curiosity. Of course, the economic burden of conventional medical treatments urges people to look for alternative healthcare solutions.
Americans use CAM for different types of diseases and conditions. It is commonly seen that people use CAM for pain management of neck, back, and joints, psychological disorders such as anxiety or depression, gastrointestinal disorders, and sleeping problems. Women are more likely than men to experience mind-body therapies, while men often seek CAM for musculoskeletal conditions or chronic and recurring pain. Higher socio-economic status increases the likelihood of CAM utilization.