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fantastic
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| January
2003 Which? guide shows complementary therapies increasing in popularity. The use of complementary therapies alongside conventional medicine is increasing according to the latest Which? Guide to Complementary Therapies. It is estimated that four to five million people visit a complementary therapist each year, and that the report attributes this increase to a growing disillusionment with conventional medicines as well as positive results achieved from the use of complementary medicines. The Which? guide has discovered that approaches taken by complementary therapies and conventional medicine are increasingly overlapping and has found that concepts such as holistic healthcare, the mind-body link and self-healing are beginning to permeate conventional medicine. Sato Lui of the National Medicine Society (NMS) told NP that it welcomes the Which? guide's recognition of complementary therapies, and its subsequent findings. "The NMS has been driving for the parity of medicines since 1987, and this is reflected in the increasing number of OTC complementary medicines", she explains. The number of people practising complementary medicine is also rising. From 1981 to 1997 the number of non-medically qualified registered practitioners in the UK trebled to around 50,00. In addition, the Which? guide states that the number of medically qualified healthcare practitioners using complementary therapies has risen too. Helen Barrett, the author of the Which? guide, says that it has become 'almost politically incorrect' to question the effectiveness of complementary therapies as this attitude is out-of-date, but she calls for the need for further research to back up the claims made for these therapies. The guide also says it supports moves by the industry to regulate the field more closely in order to protect consumer health. |