Alternative Medicines (serious - if possible)

[dragon wench]

Originally posted by nael:
<STRONG>
yoru first chiropractor truly believed in chiropracty. most practicing chiropractors don't actually believe in it, which is why i said it is hard to take serious a profession/practice that doesn't even believe in itself.

and abotu your midwife example, OB's cry out against it when soemthign goes wrong, because midwives do not have the resources nor education to do anything if soemthign serious happens. for the majority of births, midwives would be fine, but i knwo my own mother would have definitely died had she gone to a midwife. another problem OB's have with midwives, is that a lot of people who would opt to use one, do not follow well established prenatal care. so things that could be prevented go unseen till it is too late.
</STRONG>

Chiropracters, just like any other medical profession, are not a monolithic block. Those who do not perceive spinal adjustment as a cure all, do believe in the profession; simply, they approach it differently.

Midwives, in Canada, are required to undergo lengthy training at colleges specifically dedicated to the art, before they are permitted to practice. Moreover, patients are required to see both an OB as well as their midwife throughout their pregnancies, and at the first sign of trouble they are transferred to hospital care.

[thantor3]

Originally posted by C Elegans:
<STRONG>@Thanthor: ...I don't know a lot about the concept qi force, but I know the neuroscience hypothesis why acupuncture eliminate pain. What is your opinion about the so called Gate theory? Is the qi concept consistent with the Gate theory, or are they conflicting? Do you use acupuncture for anything else than analgesia? Here, most large hospitals offer acupuncture as well as chiropractic treatment for patients with acute or chronic pain. Chiropractor is a licence profession, just like physisian, nurse, psychologist and physiotherapist, so it's not viewed as "alternative" any longer. I think it's the same in Norway and Denmark... </STRONG>

IMO, the Gate Control Theory by Melzack and Wall was certainly a significant advance in the understanding of pain mechanisms. If I remember correctly, it was the first biopsychosocial model of pain to make a serious impact in neurology. That being said, there are experimental difficulties with the theory, the most important being that large afferent fibers, which should only produce presynaptic inhibition of T cells in the spinal cord according to the model, produces postsynaptic inhibition as well. The gate control theory also falls short when it attempts to explain acupuncture's positive effect on pain. It fails to explain how and why in many cases the pain disappears for months or years after the needles have been removed. It also fails to address the fact that there are cases in which acupuncture has no effect at all.

The qi concept of how acupuncture works really cannot be compared to the gate control theory, both because they are based in different cultural/medical perspectives and because one is physiological and the other is energetic. It would be a little like trying to compare Darwin's theory of evolution with creationism on a purely phenomenological level.

I do use acupuncture for other things. Many mild to moderate psychological problems respond fairly well acupuncture as do many functional problems. Irritable bowel syndrome, fibromyalgia, and chronic fatigue are some examples. In these cases, acupuncture is part of an overall protocol, rarely as a stand-alone intervention.

[Yshania]

Posted by Nael -

and abotu your midwife example, OB's cry out against it when soemthign goes wrong, because midwives do not have the resources nor education to do anything if soemthign serious happens.

They do, but invariably this is the prospective mother's choice. However, in the UK midwives are extensively trained. I have had two children - one a very hospital managed birth, because of complications, and one where only my husband and midwife were present. Given the choice again I would choose the informal midwife approach