Complementary Medicine: An Integrated Approach

As increasing numbers of patients consult complementary therapists, this book answers the need for a critical, balanced, and comprehensive guide to the workings and applications of alternative medicine for primary care physicians and other members of the primary care team. An introductory chapter describes each of the major therapeutic techniques and their applications, including homeopathy, acupuncture, manipulative medicine, environmental medicine, healing, and hypnosis. The main part of the book takes a unique, disease-oriented approach, examining the role of these therapies, and their interaction with conventional treatments, in the management of twenty common medical disorders: back pain, asthma, eczema, migraine, premenstrual syndrome, irritable bowel syndrome,and others. The evidence for the effectiveness of complementary thrapies is carefully investigated throughout. chronic health problems.
The knowledge gained from reading the book will allow health professionals to answer patients' queries confidently and accurately, to assess the suitability of complementary treatments in individual cases, and to refer appropriately.