Alternative Medicine and Rehabilitation

Although unconventional therapies have coexisted with traditional medicine for centuries, the extent of their utilization was only recently recognized; we now know between one third and one half of patients receiving traditional rehabilitation therapies have had some experience with what has come to be referred to variously as alternative, complementary, or integrative medicine. Given the pervasiveness and popularity of alternative medicine, physicians and other health professionals should be able to appropriately advise or counsel patients regarding the potential benefits or problems associated with such interventions. In order to do so, they need to become familiar with some of the more common therapies and the rapidly expanding research literature that has grown around them. The present volume addresses these needs and will serve as an introductory guide for rehabilitation practitioners who wish to expand their range of treatment options. This book does not presume or attempt to be an encyclopedic compendium of all types of alternative medicine services. Instead, we have selected representative therapies that will serve to introduce the reader to the wide range of therapies available. The book has organized the chapters into categories that emphasize their kinship with the specialty of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation: manipulation, therapeutic movement, mind-body techniques, and physical modalities. Subsequent sections deal with research and reimbursement, while the final chapters highlight specific therapies in the clinical management of several common disabling disorders. This book will be of considerable interest to a wide range of medical specialists, particularly those who treat chronic or painful disabling diseases: physiatrists, neurologists, rheumatologists, orthopedists, neurosurgeons, anesthesiologists, internists, and primary care physicians. Additionally, physical and occupational therapists, psychologists, chiropractors, and herbalists will find its contents useful. Finally, practitioners of any of the individual therapies included in the contents will find a wealth of scientific and clinical documentation to utilize in their practices.