Alternative Therapies – Debunking Alternative Medicine for Runners

Australian humorist Tim Minchin once said, “You know what they call alternative medicine that’s been proved to work? Medicine.”

While Minchin’s comment was intended as a joke, there’s a lot of truth to it. Many so-called alternative treatments lack empirical evidence to support them, instead relying on some combination of celebrity and athlete endorsements and pseudoscience. Some alternative therapies are appealing because they’re perceived as new or cutting edge, while others benefit from the aura of thousands of years of use.

So what’s worth trying? After all, the placebo effect—whereby you gain a tangible benefit from merely believing a treatment will work—is very real. Here we cover several popular therapies that some runners swear by and others eschew. In addition to describing the therapy, we answer the most important questions: Does it work? Is it safe? Should I try it?

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Cupping

In the 2016 Summer Olympics, countless athletes were seen with round discolorations all over their bodies. Given that one of those athletes was swimmer Michael Phelps, who would go on to win five gold medals that year, widespread interest arose around what these marks meant and how they might have aided Phelps’s performance.

Those marks were the aftereffects of a technique known as cupping. Cupping is the practice of placing glass cups against the skin to form a partial vacuum, which lifts the skin. A form of myofascial decompression, it is believed to stimulate the circulation of blood to the area.

Cupping can be traced back thousands of years to China, Egypt, and the Middle East. Proponents claim it can help with issues such as pain and inflammation, can improve blood flow, and can assist in the removal of “toxins.”

Does It Work?

Advocates are quick to point to Phelps and other world-class athletes who swear by the treatment. Still, the actual mechanism by which cupping therapy is supposed to work is unclear. While some studies have shown benefits ranging from improvements in blood cholesterol levels to pain relief, most peer-reviewed science is not as supportive of the technique’s efficacy. Designing double-blind studies (in which both the investigator and the subject are unaware of whether the technique in question or a placebo is being used) is difficult when researching something like cupping, and most of the evidence used to argue in favor of cupping comes from studies that pair it with another treatment or have other biases. Much of the benefit seen may be attributed to the placebo effect.

Is It Safe?

Other than the telltale bruising, side effects are fairly minimal, though some instances of burning have also been observed.

Should I Try It?

For the most part, the scientific community does not support cupping. Evidence-based practitioners point out that its advocates rely on anecdotal evidence and the placebo effect. Yet while cupping alone is not going to propel you to the next Olympic games, some clinicians keep it in their soft tissue mobilization

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A organic tactic: What is holistic medicine?

Centuries of analysis and advancement have long gone into common drugs. Now holistic drugs in on the increase.

Irrespective of other tried using and genuine techniques of health care, some persons seem for out-of-the-box thoughts to take care of them selves.

Holistic medicine boils down to taking a “whole body” method to overall health and medication and generally offers with much more purely natural and self-reliant solutions of wellbeing. 

The Pacific College of Wellness and Science points out that “the human system has a wonderful capability to mend alone, nevertheless lots of people deprive their bodies of that means by only focusing on conventional medicine for most conditions.” The definition provides that holistic drugs will take a total-man or woman tactic to health-related treatment and wellness. As a lot more and a lot more persons want to experience improved with no reliance on prescription drugs, this is an area rising in demand from customers.

A history of the holistic solution

Though the reputation and knowledge of holistic medicine has developed quickly more than the past couple of yrs, it has been a rising follow for many years now. Or even centuries. Holistic medicine can be traced back to the 6th century B.C.E. India, the place a holistic method called Ayurveda was practiced.

Holistic medicine even has connections to the father of present day medicine himself, Hippocrates, who encouraged the self-healing of the human body. 

Common medicine formulated immensely, however, according to the Pacific Faculty of Health and fitness and Science, when in the 1960’s far more and much more persons commenced to move away from traditional prescription drugs and methods and pushed for a extra organic method. 

This public guidance and enthusiasm led to the 1975 Nationwide Meeting on Holistic Wellness in California. Three yrs afterwards the American Holistic Clinical Affiliation was formed. 

Holistic drugs now

Holistic medicine’s recognition has remained stagnant because the 1960s nonetheless, level of popularity surges now more than ever. Immediately after dealing with a daily life-switching pandemic, men and women are exploring for much more nicely-rounded, self-reliant, all-natural ways to their overall health. 

Similar to traditional medicine, there are many dissimilarities in holistic drugs methods, some extra well-identified than other individuals: acupuncture, aromatherapy, chiropractic care, naturopathy, massage remedy, organic medications, homeopathic treatments, mental health counseling, osteopathy, yoga, and extra. 

Holistic medicine normally encompasses a lot much more procedures than conventional medication due to the fact of the “whole body” method. Holistic medicine includes using a look at a lot more than just the physical or surface area-stage issues—attempting to dive deeper into your lifetime behavior, psychological health and fitness, non secular wellness, and much more to very best fix a well being challenge. A person holistic tactic could deal with your power and your mindfulness even though the subsequent could deal with your back soreness through massage therapy. The methods are unlimited. 

One particular holistic therapist specializes in both of individuals procedures in Columbia. Angie Butts is the proprietor of Triple Flame Therapeutic LLC (higher

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How Americans View Use of AI in Health Care and Medicine by Doctors and Other Providers

Yet many see promise for artificial intelligence to help issues of bias in medical care

Pew Research Center conducted this study to understand Americans’ views of artificial intelligence (AI) and its uses in health and medicine. For this analysis, we surveyed 11,004 U.S. adults from Dec. 12-18, 2022.

Everyone who took part in the survey is a member of the Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP), an online survey panel that is recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses. This way, nearly all U.S. adults have a chance of selection. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other categories. Read more about the ATP’s methodology.

Here are the questions used for this report, along with responses, and its methodology.

This is part of a series of surveys and reports that look at the increasing role of AI in shaping American life. For more, read “Public Awareness of Artificial Intelligence in Everyday Activities” and “How Americans view emerging uses of artificial intelligence, including programs to generate text or art.”

A new Pew Research Center survey explores public views on artificial intelligence (AI) in health and medicine – an area where Americans may increasingly encounter technologies that do things like screen for skin cancer and even monitor a patient’s vital signs.

The survey finds that on a personal level, there’s significant discomfort among Americans with the idea of AI being used in their own health care. Six-in-ten U.S. adults say they would feel uncomfortable if their own health care provider relied on artificial intelligence to do things like diagnose disease and recommend treatments; a significantly smaller share (39%) say they would feel comfortable with this.

One factor in these views: A majority of the public is unconvinced that the use of AI in health and medicine would improve health outcomes. The Pew Research Center survey, conducted Dec. 12-18, 2022, of 11,004 U.S. adults finds only 38% say AI being used to do things like diagnose disease and recommend treatments would lead to better health outcomes for patients generally, while 33% say it would lead to worse outcomes and 27% say it wouldn’t make much difference.

These findings come as public attitudes toward AI continue to take shape, amid the ongoing adoption of AI technologies across industries and the accompanying national conversation about the benefits and risks that AI applications present for society. Read recent Center analyses for more on public awareness of AI in daily life and perceptions of how much advancement emerging AI applications represent for their fields.

Asked in more detail about how the use of artificial intelligence would impact health and medicine, Americans identify a mix of both positives and negatives.

On the positive side, a larger share of Americans think the use of AI in health and medicine would reduce rather than increase the number of mistakes made by health care providers (40% vs. 27%).

And among the majority of Americans who see a problem

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As interest in alternative medicine grows, patients with psoriasis weigh benefits, risks

February 07, 2023

3 min read


Disclosures:
Gelfand reports having financial relationships with AbbVie, Amgen, BMS, Boehringer Ingelheim, GSK, Lilly (DMC), Janssen Biologics, Novartis, NeuroDerm (DMC), Pfizer and UCB (DMC); being co-patent holder of resiquimod for treatment of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma; and serving as the deputy editor of the Journal of Investigative Dermatology and board member for the International Psoriasis Council.


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In this issue of Healio Psoriatic Disease we focus on complementary and alternative medicine for psoriasis.

Joel M. Gelfand

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), or “complementary health approaches,” is a group of diverse medical and health care practices and products that are not presently considered to be part of conventional medicine. There are two broad subgroups: 1) natural products, including herbs, vitamins, minerals and probiotics, the latter often sold as dietary supplements; and 2) mind and body practices, including a large and diverse group of procedures or techniques administered or taught by a trained practitioner such as yoga and meditation.

There is broad interest in CAM in the United States, and the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health at the NIH funds research studies to further understand the risks and benefits of CAM approaches.

As a common, chronic, incurable and stigmatizing disease, there is intense interest in CAM by patients with psoriasis. Complicating matters is that these patients can have prolonged spontaneous remissions and respond to placebo (PASI 75 is about 5% in patients with moderate to severe psoriasis receiving placebo) and therefore anecdotes abound about various CAM treatments improving psoriasis. A 2018 survey conducted by the National Psoriasis Foundation found that 41% of people with psoriasis reported using alternative therapies, with patients who had more severe disease being more likely to seek them out.

While interest in CAM therapy is high, it appears the interest in well conducted, rigorous trials to prove its safety and efficacy is low, as there is a dearth of data to support its use in psoriasis. So, what do patients, and their providers who recommend CAM, have to lose? A lot! First, at best, an unproven therapy may be a waste of precious time and money and may prevent patients from receiving therapies actually proven to work. At worst, patients may experience life threatening harm. Tryptophan is a CAM therapy used for disorders such as insomnia and mood disorders. Dermatologists of a certain generation will recall its association with a scleroderma-like condition called eosinophilia-myalgia syndrome. Herbs and dietary supplements promoted for their supposed weight loss or joint pain benefits, including green tea extract, may cause severe acute liver injury. Specifically turning to psoriasis,

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Hormone treatment, choice medicine are not joined to QOL in midlife ladies

For females at midlife with vasomotor and/or genitourinary indications of menopause, neither hormone therapy nor complementary option medicine (CAM) was linked to an improvement in good quality of life (QOL), in accordance to a secondary assessment of the ongoing Research of Women’s Health and fitness Across the Nation (SWAN) printed in the journal Menopause.

However, treatment method-by-race/ethnicity interaction was substantial for self-described QOL (= .034 at baseline, P =.044 longitudinal). Between White women of all ages, self-noted QOL was a great deal bigger in hormone-therapy people than in these who used neither remedy (P = .030 95% CI, .01-.21). By contrast, Black females working with hormone therapy only had appreciably lessen self-documented QOL when compared with Black girls utilizing neither treatment method(P = .027 95% CI, −0.40 to −0.02).

“It was not stunning that White gals described better use of hormone therapy and increased QOL than Black gals,” reported Monica Xmas, MD, SWAN’s lead investigator, principal investigator for the examination, and an affiliate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at UChicago Medication in Illinois. “But it was astonishing that Black girls, who have been demonstrated to have extra frequent, severe vasomotor signs for more time period of time, noted reduced QOL with use of hormone treatment.”

Xmas, who is also director of the menopause software and the Middle for Women’s Integrated Health and fitness at UChicagoMedicine, added, “Anecdotally, in my scientific practice over the past 20 years, I have found major racial/ethnic variances in severity and depth of menopausal signs, along with differences in choice for treatment of all those signs or symptoms. There is also a paucity of data on menopause treatment in specified populations.”

Christmas noted that SWAN is an ideal databank since the analyze recruited a massive, racially/ethnically diverse cohort that has been followed for much more than 20 years.

“Women had been asked if they experienced menopausal signs, and if so, did they choose everything to reduce their symptoms,” Xmas informed Present-day OB/GYN®. “Often members of studies are only questioned what prescription remedies they get however, SWAN questioned members about CAM modalities as perfectly.”

In addition, contributors have been questioned about QOL. “This allowed our staff to look into associations involving menopause indications, solutions, and perceived QOL,” Xmas said.

The cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses of QOL provided 2514 girls from SWAN who finished a CAM-use questionnaire and QOL assessments at baseline and each 1 to 2 years from 2002 to 2013. Throughout a mean 7.8 yrs of comply with-up, 29% of the cohort documented employing hormone remedy for a suggest 2.4 years, whereas 32% reported CAM use for a signify 2.1 yrs.

Xmas famous that the CAM/integrative drugs industry is “booming, in spite of absence of efficacy in randomized managed trials. Consequently, clinicians should be counseling patients on the lack of efficacy and attainable harm associated with some of these products and solutions.”

In addition, recognizing racial/ethnic differences when treating menopausal symptoms is paramount, according to Xmas. “Clinicians really should be

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Medical Conditions & Use of Traditional Chinese Medicine

Introduction

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), which is an alternative to mainstream health care, is widely used worldwide as an integral part of the medical system. It includes treatments from a variety of histories and cultures. According to the WHO, CAM has a long history of use in health maintenance and disease prevention and treatment.1 It represents the sum total of the knowledge, skill, and practices of health maintenance as well as of the prevention, diagnosis, improvement, and treatment of physical and mental illness.2

The prevalence rates of CAM use can be expected to differ between countries because of economic, social, and cultural factors. In the past two decades, the prevalence of CAM used by the general populations was 10.0–48.7% in some European countries,3 while the rate was higher in Asian countries (South Korea: 45.8–69%, Japan: 76%, Lao PDR: 77%, Malaysia: 55.6%).3–5

As one form of CAM, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is one of the popularly used medical/health practices throughout the world.1 TCM is based on unique views on life, on fitness, on diseases, and on the prevention and treatment of diseases that have been formed during its long history of absorption and innovation.6 TCM combines the use of Chinese herbal medicines, acupuncture and moxibustion, massage (tuina), and therapeutic mind/body practices.7 In China, TCM is not considered an alternative form of treatment, as opposed to western medicine, but an integrative complement to western medicine,8 and it is emphasized that equal importance should be placed on both TCM and western medicine in China’s medical system.

In 2020, China counted 4426 TCM hospitals, which amounts to 12.5% of the total number of hospitals, while 86.7% among all types of hospitals in China had dedicated TCM departments. The number of clinical visits to TCM hospitals was approximately 518.5 million in 2020, about 15.6% of the total number of clinical visits to hospitals of all types.9 This proportion shows an upward trend year by year.

In previous studies, more attention has been paid to the application of TCM from the perspective of disease treatment, such as using TCM for cancer treatment10–12 or molecular studies of herbal drugs used to treat a particular disease.13,14 Some studies focused on the attitudes of physicians or medical students toward the TCM.15,16 In particular, there is no data on the opinions of patients with different medical conditions regarding the efficacy of TCM.17

Although TCM plays an important role in China’s medical system, there is a lack of comprehensive understanding of patients’ preferences regarding TCM, especially when it comes to patients with different medical conditions. This study thus aimed to fill this void in the literature.

We therefore mainly focused on the utilization and opinions of TCM in patients, especially regarding the medical conditions of the patients who were willing to use TCM, and assessed via interviews with patients at five different types of hospitals. Additionally, we aimed to reveal the patients’ beliefs

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