The journal of alternative and complementary medicine : research on paradigm, practice, and policy
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J Altern Complement Med · Dec 2011
Case ReportsTherapeutic riding followed by rhythmic auditory stimulation to improve balance and gait in a subject with orthopedic pathologies.
The study objectives were to investigate the effect of therapeutic riding with a subject who had an orthopedic diagnosis. ⋯ Therapeutic riding followed by rhythmic auditory stimulation improved lower extremity range of motion, strength, and balance with this subject.
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The objectives of this study were to systematically review the literature available on the complementary approach to healing known as Bowenwork(®) and to examine reported research methods. ⋯ Bowenwork(®) may provide a noninvasive and affordable complementary approach to improvements in health. This intervention may offer improvements in pain reduction for various conditions such as frozen shoulder and migraines. While Bowenwork is recognized internationally, scientific evidence is not well documented. Further research is needed to systematically test this modality, before widespread recommendations can be given.
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Acupuncture is commonly used to treat low-back pain (LBP) and clinical trials have demonstrated its efficacy. However, less is known about how the utilization of acupuncture impacts public health service utilization in the real world. This study investigates the association between acupuncture utilization for LBP and health care utilization by assessing whether patients who undergo acupuncture subsequently use fewer health care resources and whether those patients differ in their health care use from the general population with LBP. ⋯ Results suggest that patients with LBP were less likely to visit physicians for LBP after acupuncture treatment. This led to reduced health services spending on LBP.
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J Altern Complement Med · Nov 2011
The intersecting paradigms of naturopathic medicine and public health: opportunities for naturopathic medicine.
Complementary medicine research, including naturopathic medicine research, is plagued with many methodological challenges. Many of these challenges have also been experienced in public health research. ⋯ Future research in the field of naturopathic medicine may benefit from adopting public health research models rather than focusing exclusively on biomedical models. A complementary and collaborative relationship between these fields may provide an opportunity to deliver research that more accurately reflects naturopathic medicine practice, as well as providing the opportunity to improve health outcomes more generally.