[
In the past ten years, a
variety of practitioners and resources for those seeking alternative paths to
health and wellness have appeared in
The increasing local
availability of alternative medical resources reflects a nationwide trend
toward seeking alternatives to high-tech, low-touch health care. What used to be seen as the domain of the
counterculture has moved toward the mainstream. This trend stems from an
increased awareness by many individuals that factors such as lifestyle and diet
affect our health and susceptibility to disease, and that we have some control
over these.
This article briefly
describes some alternative pathways to health and wellness and cites selected
practitioners and resources in
Definitions[Top]
Approaches to health and
wellness that deviate from the standard, allopathic medical treatments that
most of us are used to often get lumped together under the label alternative. But not all alternative
medicine is created equal. The label alternative
does not address the great variety of backgrounds and philosophical and
cultural underpinnings that inform these different approaches. Some therapies, such as acupuncture and
meditation, predate allopathic medicine by over one thousand years. Others, such as homeopathy, are relatively
new. Following are some terms and
definitions.
Acupuncture: Works through shallow insertion of fine, sterilized
needles into specific points on the body to free up Chi (energy) and promote balance and healing.
Allopathic Medicine: Sometimes
also called western medicine; the kind of medical care that most Americans are
familiar with. Uses drugs and surgery as
the main modes of fighting disease.
Aromatherapy: Utilizes the
natural aromatic aspect of plants and their essential oils for their scent and
inherent medicinal and healing properties.
Chiropractic: A system of
health care that focuses on the nervous system as a key component of health. Practitioners
treat people by adjusting and manipulating the vertebral column and extremities
with the aim of restoring normal nerve function and thus addressing
musculo-skeletal and related disturbances.
Guided Imagery: A form of
meditation that may include self-hypnosis.
Uses positive suggestion to help release a negative self-image, assist in
creating and achieving goals, boost the immune system, and relieve physical,
mental and emotional stress.
Herbal Medicine: Uses herbs
and other botanical and natural products to strengthen the body and treat
disease.
Homeopathy: A system of
medicine founded in the early 19th century by German physician Samuel Hahnemann
that seeks to address the underlying cause of illness. Based on the law of similars, the single
medicine and the minimum dose.
Massage: Therapeutic
use of gliding, kneading and rubbing strokes to promote relaxation, improve
circulation and range of motion and relieve muscle tension.
Meditation: Focuses the
mind in a therapeutic way to achieve relaxation and counter stress.
Music Therapy: Uses music
for relaxation, stress reduction, pain control, communication in sound, and
self-expression.
Naturopathy: Emphasizes
the body's ability to heal itself and focuses on prevention and balance. Includes natural healing methods such as
herbal (botanical) medicine and nutrition.
Reiki: Literally
translated, means "guided universal life force energy." Said to have
been created more than 2,500 years ago by Tibetan monks as a spiritual
discipline for enlightenment. Used today as a healing system to relieve pain,
loosen blocked energy and promote total relaxation.
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM): Includes
acupuncture, as well as other herbal treatments based on fundamental Chinese
approach to disease and wellness that includes idea of Chi, or energy meridians.
Selected Practitioners & Resources [Top]
One of the misunderstandings
associated with an alternative approach to wellness is that it is incompatible
with modern, high-tech, western medical treatment. In this view, drugs, surgery and other tools
of allopathic medicine are seen exclusively as bad, while alternatives are more
natural, and thus good. While some adherents of alternative health take this
either-or view, few practitioners of alternative medicine suggest that a
patient should stop seeing his or her regular physician.
Allopathic medicine and
alternative medicine each have their strengths and weaknesses. Allopathic
medicine excels in crisis intervention and diagnosis of critical, life-threatening
conditions. Alternative approaches, for the most part, focus on prevention of illness
and management of health and well- being.
The very thing that makes allopathic medicine so effective in a crisis,
however, can lead it to fall short in long- term prevention and health
management. Patients often wait until they are sick to call a doctor instead of
educating themselves and taking responsibility for their own long term care and
health.
"Many people want to be given a pill --
'fix me'," says Franne Berez, an alternative medicine practitioner and MD
in Squirrel Hill who specializes in homeopathy.
“We worship the bypasses and the transplants and the mechanics of it
all.”
Berez, a
Although Berez specializes
in homeopathy, she also refers patients out for alternative treatments such as
acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine (
“'The goal of homeopathy is
to cure the patient... to re-balance the entire person," she says.
Berez says she feels the
medical establishment in
"What I see
happening," Berez says, "is integrative medicine. Your regular family
practitioner will [eventually] be offering these services."
* * *
Two mainstays of medical
care in
At UPMC Shadyside Beverly
Spiro and Dr. Lewis Mehl-Madrona, author of the book Coyote Medicine, co-founded
the Center for Integrative
Medicine and worked to combine alternative approaches to health and
wellness with mainstream medicine.
Spiro, a nurse-practitioner
and former clinical director who remains at the center following Mehl-Madrona’s
departure, draws a distinction between healing versus curing. She says healing is the main focus of the
program. Patients arrive from around the
country with conditions ranging from cancer to chronic fatigue syndrome to
fibromyalgia. In such cases, she says,
"...our purpose may be not cure
them so much as heal, to improve the quality of
life or manage pain."
The center offers therapies
ranging from naturopathy, acupuncture and Shiatsu, to massage, biofeedback and
hypnosis. In addition to a specific
treatment or therapy, the center offers educational programs and classes. Most referrals must come through the
patient's regular physician. Clients must have already undergone a conventional
medical workup before coming to the center for alternative approaches. The
center then works with patients’ primary physician to foster an integrated
approach. Some treatments may be covered
by insurance.
Magee-Womens Hospital implemented a
program in alternative and wholistic health through its Womancare centers in
response to increased demand from patients interested in pursuing alternative
approaches to wellness in a range of areas -- from maternity and conception to
weight loss and menopause.
Through its partnership with
Deborah Barr and Whole Health Resources, Magee has previously offered classes
in stress reduction, natural weight loss, aromatherapy and yoga. In addition, Magee sponsored research on the
risks, benefits and clinical usefulness of complementary medicine through a grant
from the National Institutes of Health, Office of Alternative Medicine.
* * *
Deborah Barr, founder of Whole Health Resources in
Squirrel Hill, opened her first office in Oakmont in the mid-80s, and considers
herself a wholistic health advocate. She became
interested in nutrition as a way to treat her daughter's allergies. Her interest evolved into an appreciation of,
and investigation into, alternative and wholistic approaches to health.
"I met the most
remarkable people who had reversed very serious health problems. They were all kinds of people: older people,
professional people. At the time [the late '70s and early '80s] the tendency
was to think anyone into natural health was a hippy and smoked pot. That's not who I was meeting."
When asked about the
possibility of being misled by alternative health trends or being taken
advantage of by unscrupulous practitioners, she answers "Trust your
intuition. Come in and talk. See what their other patients have to say.”
Whole Health Resources works
with psychologists and takes a variety of approaches to wellness, including
diet, nutrition, massage, yoga and herbal remedies. First- time visitors fill out an inventory
and spend time talking with Barr about their goals and what they want to
achieve in working with her. She says in
all cases she seeks to focus on the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual
basis of an individual's health.
Conclusion[Top]
Although Pittsburgh may have lagged behind other areas of the country in the alternative health services it offers and progress in integrating them into the mainstream, it's also clear that there's a lot of activity being generated and a close-knit community of practitioners providing resources. The resources and alternatives are there for anyone interested in pursuing them toward enhancing the health and wellness of themselves and the people they care about.
[Editor's Note: For additional information and resources about available Holistic Health resources in the Greater Pittsburgh area, please go to www.holisticpittsburgh.com, the area's official holistic lifestyles information portal.]
(C) 2005 Copyright Charles D. Lanigan. All Rights Reserved. Reprinted with Permission.
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