Natural Remedies Center

Natural remedies, a term as used to encompass any healing practice, include naturopathy, chiropractic, herbalism, traditional Chinese medicine, Ayurveda, meditation, yoga, biofeedback, hypnosis, homeopathy, acupuncture, and diet-based therapies, in addition to a range of other practices. Natural Remedies practices are as diverse in their foundations as in their methodologies. Practices may incorporate or base themselves on traditional medicine, folk knowledge, spiritual beliefs, or newly conceived approaches to healing. Jurisdictions where alternative medical practices are sufficiently widespread may license and regulate them. Natural remedies varies from country to country.

Advocates of natual remedies hold that the various natual treatment methods are effective in treating a wide range of major and minor medical conditions, and contend that recently published research proves the effectiveness of specific natural treatments.

Natural therapies are often used in palliative care or by practitioners attempting to manage chronic pain in patients. Natual remedies are considered more acceptable in the interdisciplinary approach used in palliative care than in other areas of medicine. From its early experiences of care for the dying, palliative care took for granted the necessity of placing patient values and lifestyle habits at the core of any design and delivery of quality care at the end of life.

Physicians who practice natural remedies usually discuss and advise patients as to available complementary therapies. Patients often express interest in mind-body natural therapies because they offer a non-drug approach to treating some health conditions. Some mind-body techniques, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy, were once considered complementary medicine, but are now a part of conventional medicine in the United States. Natural remedies treatments used for pain include: acupuncture, low-level laser therapy, meditation, aroma therapy, Chinese medicine, dance therapy, music therapy, massage, herbalism, therapeutic touch, yoga, osteopathy, chiropractic, naturopathy, and homeopathy.

If the patient desired natural therapies, and as long as such treatments provided additional support and did not endanger the patient, they were considered acceptable. The non-pharmacologic interventions of natural remedies can employ mind-body interventions designed to reduce pain and concomitant mood disturbance and increase quality of life. A 1998 systematic review of studies assessing its prevalence in 13 countries concluded that about 31% of cancer patients use some form of natural remedies treatments.