Complementary therapies in medicine
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Complement Ther Med · Oct 2011
ReviewIs yoga effective for pain? A systematic review of randomized clinical trials.
The objective of this systematic review was to assess the effectiveness of yoga as a treatment option for any type of pain. ⋯ It is concluded that yoga has the potential for alleviating pain. However, definitive judgments are not possible.
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Complement Ther Med · Oct 2011
Comparative StudyA comparison of the effectiveness between Western medicine and Chinese medicine outpatient consultations in primary care.
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) plays an important role in the primary care system in many places, but research evidence on its effectiveness is largely lacking. The aim of the present study was to compare the effectiveness between TCM and Western medicine (WM) consultations in primary care. ⋯ Both TCM and WM consultations were associated with significant improvement in HRQOL in over 90% of patients. There was no singificant difference between the effectiveness of TCM and WM consultations. The results support the role of TCM as an alternative primary care service in Hong Kong.
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Complement Ther Med · Oct 2011
Controlled Clinical TrialThe impact of eurythmy therapy on stress coping strategies and health-related quality of life in healthy, moderately stressed adults.
'Stress' and 'health-related quality of life' (HRQoL) are two important theoretical constructs for modern therapy evaluation with clinical relevance. Eurythmy therapy (EYT) is a mind-body-therapy derived from anthroposophic medicine with promising effects on heart rate variability (HRV), HRQoL and disease scores. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of EYT on stress coping strategies (SCS) and HRQoL in a controlled study with moderately stressed participants. ⋯ A six-week period of EYT training can result in a significant reduction of stress and consequently improve QoL. Because a significant proportion of participants had high levels of stress at baseline the results suggest a health-enhancing benefit of EYT that may have clinical potential for prevention of stress and associated disorders in healthy individuals and possibly in patients with chronic diseases, for example.