LETTER: A healthy dose of skepticism over health expo

From Chris Leonard
Darwin

What is alternative medicine? There is no such thing. There is evidence-based, or traditional medicine and there are practices that have yet to be or cannot be proven. Confusing the two can be counterproductive or even dangerous.
Last Saturday, Hutchinson Community Hospital, Hutchinson Medical Center and the Hutchinson Area Foundation for Health Care helped sponsor an exhibition of “alternative and complementary practices” at the Event Center. Although a disclaimer graced the event’s brochure, the implication was still made that acupuncture, massage, chiropractic and naturopathy are somehow on a par with science-based medicine.
There are many reasons to mistrust the medical establishment. Big pharmaceutical companies seem to care about their profits above all. Access to care is difficult for the underinsured if they don’t qualify for government assistance. There are times when physicians seem hurried and possibly too quick to offer drugs or surgical interventions. And at the end of the line, there are frustrating cases where science has no therapies, and emotional or spiritual care are all that can be offered.
Despite its shortcomings, evidence-based medical care is the best method available to care for our bodies. It builds knowledge constantly, bolstered or corrected by good research, and is open to new ideas that can be shown to be effective. There are no “cures they don’t want you to know about!” as advertisements claim. Any theories that stand up to rigorous testing and prove effective are welcomed by the medical community.
What unproven medicine seems to offer is dogmatic theory that lacks physiological plausibility; that is, there is no reason to think they would work. A practitioner who claims to realign your body energy for a more harmonious relationship to your environment through therapeutic touch or the placement of needles through your skin may yield good results, especially from friends or colleagues we know and trust. These results are impossible to quantify or verify through research. How can we observe the realignment of your body energy? Or measure the effectiveness of a placebo?
A brief rundown on several “alternative” practices:
• Acupuncture: Practice of inserting needles at specific “meridians” to “unblock qi” and allow its free flow through the body. Qi is a concept of life energy that is not observable or quantifiable, so the plausibility factor is low. There has been some evidence of back and neck pain relief and alleviation of nausea. Danger is low, as long as the needles are sterilized; but some practitioners do not believe that germs or bacteria cause disease, so exercise caution.
• Homeopathy: Theory is that extreme dilutions of substances that cause symptoms can cure symptoms. The substances are so dilute that they are essentially just water or alcohol; ie. a placebo. The danger is in medical care not received; a homeopath may offer a prophylactic solution to prevent malaria on a tropical vacation, and the patient forgoes the vaccine.
• Chiropractic: Based on the theory that the position of joints and bones affects the central nervous system and overall health. It has some proven positive effects from skeletal manipulation for relieving low-back pain and tension headaches. Claims of relief for infant colic, asthma and other complaints are largely unsubstantiated. Some chiropractors reject germ theory and are lax with sterilization and hygiene. Spinal manipulations occasionally have damaged nerves or arteries, resulting in paralysis, stroke or death.
• Massage therapy: Many methods of manipulating tissue and muscle for pain relief and alleviation of other conditions. Seems effective for back pain relief, relaxation and general feeling of well-being — hey, it feels good!