OPPapers.com

Alternative Medicine

Alternative or Complimentary medicine comes from China. This medicine was developed several thousand years ago. Shen Nong, the Fire Emperor, said to have lived from 2698 to 2598 BC is considered the founder of herbal medicine Chinese medicine is based on the text written by Huang Di, The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine. This book was written before the birth of Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine. Ancient Chinese medicine was based on the idea of balance. Life energy means (Chi-Qi_Ki) in Chinese, constantly flows through the body. When a person is healthy, the energy remains balanced; however, if it becomes unbalanced then an illness will occur. The job of ancient Chinese physicians was to keep the body in balance and to restore balance when it was lost. The Chinese believed that health was much more than just absence of disease but rather wellness, a feeling of harmony for the body, mind and spirit. It is preventative – keeping ones self healthy through diets, exercises, relaxation techniques and more. The professionals of alternative medicine believe they have the power to heal.
Today, alternative medicine is a very broad term used by the medical profession and lay men alike. It engulfs a large range of healing therapies. It is usually defined as a treatment or approach that is not routinely used by those health care proponents who practice standard or mainstream medicine. Traditional Chinese Medicine is still widely used in China. There are over 200 hospitals that still practice traditional methods and even in modern hospitals the traditional methods are used side by side by the latest medical technology in China today.
A national survey done by Prevention Magazine in 1997 revealed that 1/3 of all adult Americans or about 60 million people say that they frequently use herbal remedies. Americans spend an average of $4 billion dollars a year on herbs or vitamins and 61.5 % do not disclose the use of these products to their...