Contributed by Jai A. Dennison| 01 July, 2005 14:56 GMT
Chiropractic was ranked ahead of all conventional treatments, including prescription drugs, by readers with back pain.
Patients and doctors alike are warming toward alternative medicine, according to a new
Consumer Reports survey of more than 34,000 readers who ranked the treatments that worked best for them.
Hands-on treatments, such as chiropractic, worked better than conventional treatments for such conditions as back pain and arthritis, according to survey respondents. Chiropractic was ranked ahead of all conventional treatments, including prescription drugs, by readers with back pain.
Readers also indicated that chiropractic treatments provided relief for neck pain. However, Consumer Reports does not recommend it, saying neck manipulation can be risky.
Deep-tissue massage was found to be especially effective in treating osteoarthritis and fibromyalgia. While readers suffering from back pain deemed acupuncture and acupressure less effective than chiropractic and massage, one-fourth of readers who had tried these therapies said they helped them feel much better.
Of all the hands-on alternative therapies, acupuncture has the most scientific support.
Tepid Reaction to Supplements
Exercise also provides good results, according to the survey -- not only for such conditions as back pain, but also for allergies and other respiratory ills, anxiety, rheumatoid arthritis, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, depression, insomnia and prostate problems.
Those results are consistent with a broad range of clinical studies of treatments for all of those conditions, except allergies and respiratory ailments.
Popular herbal treatments -- such as echinacea, St. John's wort, saw palmetto, melatonin, and glucosamine and chondroitin -- did not earn high marks. Readers reported that alternative treatments were far less effective than prescription drugs for eight conditions: anxiety, rheumatoid arthritis, depression, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, insomnia, prostate problems, and respiratory problems.
Interpreting results of the reader survey is somewhat difficult, Consumer Reports notes, because the US regulates alternative and conventional medicines differently.
Federal laws ensure that a bottle of prescription or over-the- counter pills contains the amount and kind of medicine stated on the label, and dosages are standardized, but no such standards apply to dietary supplements. Moreover, there are no standard recommended dosages.
Choosing the Alternative Route
In general, Consumer Reports makes the following recommendations for utilizing alternative therapies:
Ask your doctor. Many doctors will refer patients to preferred alternative practitioners. And your doctor may be able to steer you away from potentially hazardous alternative treatments.
Do your own research. Objective online references include the
National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, part of the US National Institutes of Health; Medline Plus, for plain-language medical information; and
Consumer Reports Medical Guide, which rates treatments, including alternative treatments, for several dozen common conditions. It costs $24 per year or $4.95 per month; the others are free.
Consult other reliable sources. If your doctor doesn't have a referral list of practitioners, check with a local hospital or medical school. You can also turn to national professional organizations, many of which have geographic search functions on their Web sites.
Check your health plan. Many cover some alternative therapies.
Check the practitioner's credentials. Make sure your practitioner has the proper license, if applicable, or check for membership in professional associations, which require minimum levels of education and experience. Some also make practitioners pass an exam. |
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