Complementary & and Alternative Medicine Popularity

As Alternative Medicine Popularity Soars, Interest in Drug-Based Medicine Decreases

Complementary & Alternative Medicine (CAM) is defined as:

"therapies which are neither taught widely in medical schools nor generally available in U. S. hospitals."

Alternative medicine popularity is on a growth cycle.

Alternative medicine training is rarely a part of the medical school teachings.

CAM was Essentially Non-Existent Before 1970

The counter-culture movement fueled the growth in alternative medicine.

CAM therapies were used by a fairly narrow segment of the population until the early 1970's.

During those years, the ideology and interest in CAM arose from those in the youth counter-culture movement.

These young people produced a rapid spread and use of CAM therapies. This little-known trickle, only 30 years ago, shows that alternative medicine popularity is now a torrent of explosive proportions.

The Number of People Who Try CAM and the Expenditure of Dollars for its Use are Staggering

According to data collected in the National Health Survey, by the late 1990's, 62% of adults used CAM.

The majority used CAM for lingering and chronic health problems, yet continued to rely on the Medical Establishment for life-threatening medical conditions.

Interestingly, 72% of CAM users did not inform their medical doctor that they had used it. In a 1997 survey of alternative medicine popularity the results showed:

there was a 47.3% increase in total visits to alternative medicine practitioners between 1990 and 1997
the numbers went from 427 million office visits in 1990 to 629 million in 1997
office visits to CAM providers exceeded total visits to all U. S. primary care physicians by two times
total 1997 out-of-pocket dollars paid for CAM were conservatively estimated at $27 billion

Chiropractic is one of the largest divisions of alternative medicine.

Continuous, chronic disease is an enormous burden for individuals and their loved ones. Ongoing diseases extract a heavy financial burden.

Drugs are the main treatment option of medical doctors.

The primary therapeutic of the Medical Establishment is the use of toxic drugs which have no curative effect on disease.

While one continues to suffer due to drug failure, the Establishment reaps high financial rewards. The unstated goal of pharmacy is not cure, but disease "management."

Management of Disease is the Trend in Mainstream Medicine

Because the Establishment controls health information delivery, the public remains ignorant about the value of many alternative therapies. In fact, the outcry offered by the self-stated "scientific" Establishment is that people should not use "unproven" therapies such as herbs, vitamins, and diet.

The public is never told that 80-95% of the therapies used in Establishment treatments have never been evaluated themselves for effectiveness. This fact has been known for at least 30 years.

Today, people who use CAM self-prescribe and self-medicate. Nothing irks a medical professional more than this.

The historical record, however, shows that Americans, up until about 1900, were self-reliant and refused to give up their health care to doctors.

After this time, they willingly gave up their independence and this is one of the reasons the Medical Establishment became so powerful.

Self-reliance was a strong trait that led to the development of the country.

The Playing Field is Clear Today

The facts are:

conventional medicine isn't meeting the needs of the public
its weaknesses are disease prevention and the management of many new and chronic illnesses
it will not recognize the general desire of Americans to participate in their own health management
American consumers desire a more holistic and less paternalistic approach to their health

As we've seen, people are willing to spend huge amounts of money toward this end. Mainstream medical education hasn't prepared physicians to answer patient's questions about the benefits of CAM.

Medical doctors aren't trained to answer patient's questions about alternative medicine therapeutics.

People turn to their medical doctors with questions about alternative medicine popularity and uses.

But physicians simply don't have the knowledge-base to provide answers.

Yet CAM has grown so much in 30 years that it has now outsized the Establishment.

It's anticipated that alternative medicine popularity will continue to grow at phenomenal rates and that this growth will affect all facets of health care delivery for many years to come.

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