JOURNAL
Quackery: The Dark Side of Alternative Medicine
Everyone has heard the stories in the news and on the TV; the miracle cures and the life-saving medications, the alternative therapies that offer heart-rending tales of lives saved, and the scary stories of what conventional medicine really does to our bodies. Alternative medicine, more often than not, comes with glowing testimonials and mind-blowing claims – and usually high price tags too. It’s easy to get sucked into the hype and with such media whirlwinds, it’s hard to know what to believe. This is especially true when people get frustrated with traditional doctors and their perceived lack of time or bedside manner. Patients feel lost and out of control. But just what are ‘alternative therapies’ anyway? And where is the harm, if someone wants to try something different?
Effectiveness of Acupuncture?
When western medicine fails to adequately alleviate a patient’s pain, many turn to acupuncture or other forms of alternative medicine to find relief. As practiced for more than 2,500 years, acupuncture is widely accepted as a remedy for a variety of diseases, and reliance on this art as an alternative treatment has increased worldwide particularly since the 1970s. Moreover, acupuncture has been shown to improve neurological disorders, severe to moderate dysmenorrhea (menstrual cramps), and to relieve chronic pain in children and adolescents. By example, a comparative study in which patients with ischemic cerebro-vascular disease, also known commonly as a stoke, who were treated with acupuncture, were compared with those treated with conventional drugs (Chen, et al. 1990).