After integrative care for pain at the anthroposophical hospital Vidarkliniken in Sweden, prescriptions for pain medications could be halved. Patients in conventional care however, purchased twice as many analgesics as before treatment. These are some results of a unique comparative study published in the high impact journal PLOS One. Physician Hans Johansson, Södertälje Hospital (not involved with the study), says that it is interesting and important. Read more
Tags: anthroposophical integrative care, BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine, CAM, case-control study, complementary and alternative medicine, David Finer, drug utilization, evidence, health, health care, health care cost, health economics, I C, integrative care, Integrative Care Science Center, integrative medicine, Karolinska Institutet, National Board of Health and Welfare, pain, prescribing, prospective, research, retrospective, Tobias Sundberg, Torkel Falkenberg, VidarklinikenContemporary Sweden is a multicultural and multireligious society. Whether we like it or not. That is the message of the anthology "Holy Health", writes Göran Ståhle, a senior lecturer in the Psychology of Religion at Södertörn University in Stockholm, who is one of the editors of the book. After his article, journalist David Finer provides a description of the contents. Read more
Tags: book review, Christian, church, complementary and alternative medicine, David Finer, exorcism, faith, faith healing, Göran Ståhle, healing, health, holistic, holy, Jessica Morberg, mindfulness, miracle, multicultural, polarization, pseudoscience, psychoiogy of religion, religion, shaman, shamanism, spirits, yogaPolarized thinking about complementary, alternative and integrative care is negative, well, downright dangerous. It undermines the health care encounter and harms individuals and nations. This can be read in an opinion piece in the journal European Journal of Integrative Medicine, written by researchers at I C. Read more
Tags: alternative medicine, attitude, CAM, complementary and alternative medicine, CritiCAM, David Finer, ethics, European Journal of Integrative Medicine, health care, health journalism, integrative care, Integrative Care Science Center, Jackie Schwartz, Johanna Hök, Maria Arman, mass media, Media Doctor, nursing, patient, polarization, pseudoscience, sceptics, Tobias Suundberg, Torkel Falkenberg, WHOThis year it is 200 years since Per Henrik Ling founded the Royal Gymnastics Central Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. Ling´s extensive gymnastic system integrated physical activity, training and manual treatments for health promotion and health care. It became a Swedish success story and a strong “export product” all over the world. Read more
Tags: CAM, complementary and alternative medicine, conventional medicine, county council, drugs, evaluation, guidellines, gymnastics, healthcare, I C, illness, integrative care, integrative medicine, Ling, manual treatment, methodology, mortality, patient organisation, pharmaceuticals, physical activity, prevention, research, self-care, Tobias Sundberg, training, WHOWomen do not integrate conventional and alternative medicine because they think it is a romantic or rebellious thing to do. They do it because they must. Health providers, after all, do not build any bridges. A diary study from Australian reveals the pragmatic approach of older women towards medical pluralism. Researchers view them as role models for all of us as consumers of the future. Read more
Tags: allopathic medicine, alternative medicine, attitude, Australia, autenticity, biomedicine, BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine, bridging gaps, CAM, complementary and alternative medicine, David Finer, diaries, disease, empowerment, gender, health, home remedies, independence, integrative care, integrative medicine, Internet, knowledge, lay activism, lay knowledge, mass media, meaning, medical pluralism, narrative analysis, natural, nature, network, networking, old wives tales, patient-doctor communication, personalised medicine, pragmatism, qualitative study, resistance, responsibility, self-care, TM, traditonal medicine, wellbeing, women, women´s healthDuring the recent state visit of US President Barack Obama to Sweden, there was an almost hour-long press conference during which Obama and Sweden´s PM Fredrik Reinfeldt affirmed their debt of gratitude to each other´s countries in various respects. At I C (Integrative Care Science Center), we view the US as a role model in terms of concerted, long-term and large-scale efforts in the field of complementary, alternative and integrative care/medicine, writes Torkel Falkenberg, Head of I C in an editorial. Read more
Tags: acupuncture, alternative medicine, anthroposophy, Barack Obama, BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine, CAM, CAM use, collaboration, complementary and alternative medicine, DNA, drug, editorial, education, Elisabeth Blackburn, evidence, Fredrik Reinfeldt, health care, Hong Kong, I C, integrative care, Integrative Care Science Center, integrative medicine, Middle East, National Board of Health and Welfare, newsletter, pain, patient-doctor communication, prohibition, register, research, stress, telomer, The Integrative Care Science Center, Tieto, Torkel Falkenberg, training, utilization, Vetenskap och Folkbildning, VoF, WHOThe concept of personalized medicine has become synonymous with risk factor identification and treatment. But according to a German study, our understanding of the term is in fact more in line with personal development, integrative care, authenticity, self-determination and wellbeing. Values which we look for in complementary, alternative and integrative care. Read more
Tags: attitude, authenticity, biomarker, Brigitte Franzel, CAM, communication, complementary and alternative medicine, conceptions, cytochrome P450, David Finer, discourse, ethnography, grapefruit, health care, individualized medicine, integrative medicine, meaning, narrative, patient, patient-doctor communication, person-centered, personalized medicine, researchFailure to integrate conventional and complementary medicine will soon be viewed as unethical. The “magical” effects of homeopathy are attributable solely to the patient-provider relationship. All raw CAM research data should be made publically available. These were three provocative statements formulated during a popular “soapbox” session at the ICCMR 2013 research meeting in London recently. […] Read more
Tags: Andrew Weil, CAM, complementary and alternative medicine, controversy, David Finer, ethics, George Lewith, healthcare crisis, homeopathy, ICCMR, informed consent, integrative care, magic, patient-provider, priorities, research, Torkel FalkenbergA decade ago in 2002, I had the honor of being asked to write the first draft of the WHO Strategy on traditional, complementary and alternative medicine. I was also one of four people who got the opportunity to launch the strategy at the World Health Assembly, a ceremony to which all the health ministers of […] Read more
Tags: alternative medicine, anthroposophical, CAM, complementary, complementary and alternative medicine, evidence, evidence-based, I C, integrative care, Integrative Care Science Center, Stichting af Jochnick Foundation, TM, Torkel Falkenberg, traditional medicine, Vidar Foundation, Vidarkliniken, WHO, WHO Strategy on traditional, World Health AssemblyA national Swedish survey shows for the first time that a majority of surgeons want to learn more about CAM, Complementary and Alternative Medicine. The study was carried out in 2010-2011 by Kristofer Bjerså, RN and collaborators at the Sahlgrenska Academy, Gothenburg University and is published in the journal BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine. The […] Read more
Tags: acupuncture, attitude, bias, BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine, CAM, complementary and alternative medicine, David Finer, Gothenburg, healing, herbal, integrative medicine, knowledge, Kristoffer Bjerså, manual therapy, massage, Nils-Olof Jacobson, nutrion, nutritional supplement, qualitative, qualitative research, qualitative study, quantitative, quantitative research, quantitative study, Sahlgrenska Academy, social psychiatry, study bias, surgery, surgical, yoga