Effectiveness of Alternative Medicine

Nicholas HassanNortheastern University

Introduction

• This power point reviews the effectiveness of alternative treatments on both patient outcomes and patient satisfaction.

• By the end I hope to have proven that educating your patients about seeking complementary and alternative therapies can be very beneficial for them.

Forms of Alternative Medicine

• Examples of alternative medicine addressed in this power point:– Acupuncture– Homeopathic Medicines– Pranayama Yoga/ Tai Chi– Chiropractic

Acupuncture in Breast Cancer

• PCRF- Persistent Cancer-related fatigue is one of the most common side effects for survivors of breast cancer.

• In one study done by the national cancer institute using acupuncture has been found to “significantly decrease PCRF by as much as 70% in cancer survivors”(Arbor).

(2008)

Acupuncture in Constipation• Hospital induced constipation can be a very serious side effect in

children who are immobilized by surgery. • In one study done at the Unversity Medicine of Greifswald took

ten patients who had not stooled for 72 hours post operatively and applied acupuncture.

• The children were given no traditional constipation therapy in conjunction with the acupuncture and all stooled within two hours of receiving treatment.

• “Stimulation of acupuncture point LI11 using fixed indwelling needles of 0.9 mm length is safe, has a high acceptance rate and may be an effective and supportive therapy for HIC in children”(Anders).

Homeopathic Medicines

• Two patients seen by Dr. Vijay Dabhade who had long standing severe Psoriasis were treated exclusively with Staphysagria, a homeopathetic medicine, and showed significant recovery.– Staphysagria is a homeopathic remedy made from

Delphinium Staphisagria, a flower, and an alcohol water solution.

Homeopathic: Staphysagria in Psoriasis

After one month the psoriasis shows significant improvement with reduction in scaly eruptions

(Dabhade)

Pranayama Yoga

• At the beginning of this year 60 women with MS were evaluated to find the effects of Pranayama on their pain levels. The control group was given no intervention for one month while the case group was subjected to Pranayama instruction twice per week for ninety minutes.

• “After the Yoga therapy, the case group showed a significant improvement in physical pain management”(Doulatabad).

• Patient reported pain was found to have lowered by a mean of over one point on the standard self-report pain scale.

(Indira)

Tai Chi

• A pilot study took ten patients in wheel chairs with chronic spinal cord injuries and over eight weeks the patients were heavily instructed in Tai Chi and heart rate variability.

• After the eight weeks patients were found to have “enhance vagal activity and a decrease in sympathetic activity with balanced sympathovagal tone”(Yu).

Chiropractic Therapy in LBP• 171 veterans with a chief complain of lower back pain were evaluated

and treated with chiropractic therapy. • Lower back pain effects more veterans then depression, diabetes, and

hypertension.• The treatments were normally manual and targeted at the lower back

two times a week. Participants were also given stretches and exercises to do on their own. • On a standard self-report one to ten scale patients reported an

average improvement of 2.2 points. This marked an astounding improvement and often meant the elimination of pharmacological treatment.

• “in terms of mean percentage improvement from baseline to discharge for both NRS(numeric rating scale) and BBQ(Back Bournemouth Questionnaire) were statistically significant and clinically meaningful”(Dunn).

(Taliaferro)

Chiropractic in Cervical Radiculopathy

• A case report published in “The Journal of The Chiropractic Association” presents a 55 year old white male who had aggressive pain in the neck, shoulder blades, and arms who received chiropractic treatment.

• The patient received a combination of chiropractic treatment, ice therapy, and cervical spine isometric exercises.

• Average reporting of pain was a 9 out of 10 on the numeric scale before treatment. After 6 weeks of therapy the patient reported an average 1 out of 10 on the numeric scale. The patient was progressively weaned off the treatment and now 3 years post treatment the patient continues to report 0-10 pain in all areas previously effected.

Conclusion

• The scientific studies that have been done on complementary and alternative therapies are far and few between. Many of them show great promise in improving patient outcomes for some of the most debilitating diseases.

• However, almost every study listed in this power point had either low sample sizes or poor methods of data collection. This does not take away from the proven effectiveness of studies that have been done but rather requires the aid of additional testing.

References• Anders, E. (2012). Acupuncture for treatment of hospital-induced constipation in children. Acupuncture in

Medicine, 30(1), 258-260. Retrieved from http://0-web.ebscohost.com.ilsprod.lib.neu.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=f8a0dc97-6f4f-4296-8666-07486704ee5f%40sessionmgr14&vid=6&hid=1

• Arbor, A. (2013, January 22). Accupressure for persistent cancer related fatigue. Retrieved from National Cancer Institute website: http://www.cancer.gov/clinicaltrials/search/view?version=patient&cdrid=694474

• Dabhade, V. (2012). A cure of psoriasis using frequent homeopathic doses in solution. American Journal of Homeopathic Medicine, 105(4), 164-167. Retrieved from http://0-content.ebscohost.com.ilsprod.lib.neu.edu/pdf27_28/pdf/2012/JC3/01Dec12/85182246.pdf?T=P&P=AN&K=85182246&S=R&D=awh&EbscoContent=dGJyMNHr7ESep7U4xNvgOLCmr0ueqK9Srqe4S7OWxWXS&ContentCustomer=dGJyMPGrrk%2BvrLFOuePfgeyx633i

• Doulatabad, N. (2013). The effects of pranayama, hatha and raja yoga on physical pain. African Journal of Alternative Medicine, 10(1), 49-52. Retrieved from http://0-web.ebscohost.com.ilsprod.lib.neu.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=fe2a22ed-de06-41f3-a767-cd013dad220e%40sessionmgr13&vid=10&hid=1

• Dunn, A. (2011). Retrospective case series of clinical outcomes associated with chiropractic management. Journal of Rehabilitation Research & Development, 48(8), 927-934. Retrieved from http://0-web.ebscohost.com.ilsprod.lib.neu.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=fe2a22ed-de06-41f3-a767-cd013dad220e%40sessionmgr13&vid=24&hid=1

• Emary, P. (2012). Use of post-isometric relaxation in the chiropractic management of a 55-year-old man. Journal of the Canadian Chiropractic Association, 8(3194), 9-17. Retrieved from http://0-web.ebscohost.com.ilsprod.lib.neu.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=fe2a22ed-de06-41f3-a767-cd013dad220e%40sessionmgr13&vid=33&hid=1

• Indira (2012). Tree [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://dharmakarmaarts.blogspot.com/2012/11/illustration-friday-tree.html

References Cont.• Taliaferro, E. (2009) Coastal Acupuncture [Photograph].

Retrieved from http://www.coastalacu.com/• Yu, S. (2012). The immediate effect of wheelchair tai chi.

International SportMed Journal, 13(3), 99-108. Retrieved from http://0-web.ebscohost.com.ilsprod.lib.neu.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=fe2a22ed-de06-41f3-a767-cd013dad220e%40sessionmgr13&vid=12&hid=1

• (2008). Chiropractic Therapy [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://www.altmedicinezone.com/chiropractic/how-to-get-effective-relief-from-back-pain-with-chiropractic-therapy/

Reflection• My audience would be nurses on a non-specific floor. With this PowerPoint I am trying to show the

effectiveness of adding CAM treatments. Very little is known about them and they are almost all considered pseudo sciences not worth a nurses time. Hopefully after seeing the PowerPoint a nurse might be more inclined to do research on CAM. I would have the power point either posted in full on a bulletin board or running on a TV constantly. Hopefully, it would be spread across many floors across a hospital. For this reason I do explain some of the tools and diseases very briefly. Since nursing is such a specialized field a nurse on a pediatric floor might not be working with the same basis of knowledge that a nurse on a neurological floor might. However all nurses have a working knowledge of the body and most disease processes so I try to shy away from explaining anything in to great of detail. Nurses are also universally busy people and the only ways to get them to read something long is to make it mandatory. Once you make reading something mandatory people loose a great deal of interest no matter how interesting the topic. This is the reason I decided to make a power point that could be constantly scrolling in a break room or hallway. They might read one or two slides as they take their lunch break and then one or two more on their dinner break. I did my best to make every slide stand independently so you can start reading at any slide and understand what is going on.

• I think this would be an interesting piece for my portfolio because a power point can break up a large group of essays rather well. It might not be a great fit however because it is a power point and not designed to be sat down and read front to back but rather read a bit at a time.