The Science
Energy medicine is a key component of integrative health. While used throughout the world for many centuries, the use of complementary and integrative medicine modalities is just now coming into its own in the U.S.
The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) was estalished in 1998, originally as the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM). The change in name to NCCIH reflects the impressive growth in integration of these time-proven techniques into contemporary U.S. medical care. NCCIH is the federal government's lead agency for scientific research on complentary and integrative health approaches. The Center is one of the 27 institutes and centers that make of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
If you ever took Lamaze or yoga classes, purchased Vitamin C or Glucosamine, had a massage or enjoyed the scent of vanilla, you have already used proven complementary therapies. But until recently, many did not understand much about the science behind those therapies.
The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) was estalished in 1998, originally as the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM). The change in name to NCCIH reflects the impressive growth in integration of these time-proven techniques into contemporary U.S. medical care. NCCIH is the federal government's lead agency for scientific research on complentary and integrative health approaches. The Center is one of the 27 institutes and centers that make of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
If you ever took Lamaze or yoga classes, purchased Vitamin C or Glucosamine, had a massage or enjoyed the scent of vanilla, you have already used proven complementary therapies. But until recently, many did not understand much about the science behind those therapies.
|
Now, thanks to NCCIH and organizations like the National Cancer Institute, both professional and lay knowledge and use of these modalities has increased substantially to the benefit of all.
Particularly for those interested in the scientific and medical history of complementary and integrative medicine, there is an excellent overview of energy, or biofield, medicine on the website of the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health of the National Institutes of Health. Topics include energy medicine and its related fields, such as Qi gong, Reikki, healing touch and intercessory prayer. |
|
|
Energy Medicine integrates techniques from the time-honored and proven traditions of acupuncture, yoga, kinesiology, and qi gong. Acupuncture and qi gong alone have been in constant use for between 2,000 and 5,000 years. Yoga--also being used extensively today in leading U.S. medical centers--is between 5,000 and 10,000 years old.
By contrast, what we think of as "mainstream medicine"--conventional Western medicine--is not even two hundred years old. The American Medical Association was founded in 1847. The very first medical specialties--like cardiology and gynecology--didn't come of age until the mid-20th century, and new subspecialties continue to emerge even today. In terms of mainstream Western medicine, If you are 50 years old or so, you have lived for a third of the total formation of Western medicine as we know it today. When considered in that light, it is no surprise that medical recommendations are changing so rapidly: Think hormone replacement and birth control pill safety, the overuse of antibiotics, or constantly shifting and often contradictory nutritional recommendations. However, in this century, we have finally tapped into proven traditional therapies for help that Western medicine sometimes cannot provide by working on energy systems in the body that conventional medicine has yet to understand. Energy medicine can be used to complement conventional Western medicine, or as an alternative healing system, or to integrate both Eastern and Western healing concepts. The shift in Western medicine to integrate traditional healing modalities, while recent, has occurred very rapidly since the turn of the century. Therefore, while your neighbor may not have heard much about energy medicine, the world's best medical centers are rapidly tapping into these traditional therapies to improve the health and well being of communities, and also to improve the quality of life for cardiac and cancer patients among others. Click here to access the most recent (and often surprising) research sponsored by NCCIH.. A multitude of factors--antibiotic overuse and resistance, the reality of living longer with chronic disease, burgeoning research, and just plain old daily stress--have combined to dramatically increase the use of our own bodies through these traditional, proven therapies. This very smart integration of modalities ensures that the future of these traditional therapies will be even more impressive than their time-proven pasts. |
By 2001, eight of the 13 Harvard Medical School affiliate hospitals were already offering acupuncture |
