Non Pharmacological Complementary And Alternative Treatments With Conventional Medicine Essay

Murray J. McAllister created this website because he had concerns for how chronic pain was being understood and managed in the current healthcare system. There is no uniform or consistency in how chronic pain is being treated among healthcare providers. Many providers also correlate chronic pain to a previous orthopedic injury and not from a nervous system related condition. This poses many concerns

M1 Discuss complementary therapies that are available for users of health and social care services

The selected policy Essence of Care 2010: Benchmarks for the Prevention and Management of Pain, includes the latest benchmarks on the management of pain and its prevention. It presents up to date reviewed views, with the aim to deliver

Persistent pain has psychological and social implications for daily life. It can severely limit an individual’s ability to work and be a productive member of society and decreases quality of life. In the face of increasing stigma and barriers to care, patients are struggling to procure the legal medications that alleviate their debilitating pain.

Non-pharmacological interventions can be a substantial way that nurses can positively impact adult patients with hypertension. The first complementary and alternative therapy treatment of guided imagery was given to a group of pregnant patients with hypertension. Guided imagery is a way to focus one’s minds on a peaceful and calm place. In a life-threatening and serious situation, such as surgery or pregnancy, guided imagery could be a helpful non-pharmacological tool for a nurse to use to calm the patient. Results have shown a statistically significant decrease in blood pressure when guided imagery was used instead of just quiet rest. However, the findings show no significant effect of using guided imagery versus quiet rest on their anxiety level (Moffatt et al., 2010). Guided imagery can be beneficial as a nursing intervention for the appropriate patient. Using guided imagery along with the proper education can lead to better blood pressure reduction in hypertensive patients (Gignon et al., 2014; Moffatt et al., 2010).

Research has shown that there are several organizations and active advocates who are working on pain management problems to face this public health issue. The following establishments involve: The American Academy of Pain Medicine, Institute of Medicine, and American Pain Society and many for-profit and nonprofit organizations are also working at different level towards pain management. Most specifically, the IOM has been devoted to studying pain and its consequences on individuals, the healthcare system, as well as on government (IOM, 2011).

In the United States, over 50 million people suffer from chronic pain. The annual cost of chronic pain is around $100 billion. Moreover, 46% of the people suffering from chronic pain lack adequate pain relief (http://www.painfoundation.org/painful.htm).

It is estimated that some 28 million people in the UK suffer from some form of chronic pain ranging from lower back pain to osteoarthritis and as such this accounts for 45 million days of work lost each year, the cost of chronic back pain to the NHS alone is £5 billion a year. This poses both massive social and economic concerns and creates the question: why hasn't anything been done to counteract this?

Also pain may start with a disease or injury that persists due to stress emotional problems, improper treatment, or persistent abdominal pain signals in the body. It is possible for chronic pain to occur any previous injury illness or known cause. Therefore, patients suffering with chronic pain significantly benefit from a comprehensive multidisciplinary approach to treatment. Often you achieve optimal care several different health professionals may be involved in patient care alternative care to the traditional medical phonological could include but is not limited to traditional chiropractic care nutritional diet yoga exercise acupuncture meditation support groups soft tissue therapies and network chiropractic. Often, they cannot be cured, that it can be managed well enough through these alternative disciplines of care to improve the quality of life.

In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in complementary medicine, and indeed alternative medicine (Lee-Treweek 2002, Andrews 2004, Barry 2006). Moreover the number of professionally trained therapist and practitioners has increased giving the patient/client a better choice and at more competitive rates (Smallwood, 2005).

About 41% of American adults suffer from chronic pain. The total economic burden of pain in 2010 is estimated to range from $560 to $635 billion. Of these, lost productivity alone cost between $299 to $335 billion; which approximates the yearly cost of heart condition and exceeding the total cost of cancer and diabetes. On a per person basis, the incremental cost of all US health care expenditures in 2010 is $8233, moderate and severe chronic pain accounted for $4516 (55% of total) and $7726.20 (93.8% of total) respectively (Gaskin et. al. 2012). American workers with neck or back pain costs between $5574- $8512, compared to those with no neck or back pain ($3,017) (Kleinman et al 2014).

However, what if chronic back pain could be managed by adding alternative therapies such as yoga to modern treatments? Yoga is an additional therapy that decreases chronic back pain by promoting movement and decreasing pain medication dependence (Lee, Crawford & Schoomaker, 2014). This could radically reduce the dependence on drugs for pain relief and lead to a movement where pain is managed with the help of both modern medicine and affordable alternative remedies. With this in mind, promoting alternative therapies, such as yoga, in collaboration with modern treatments provides a larger range of options with different efficiencies for those with chronic back pain.

By examining some of the most popular, enduring alternative medical systems, one can begin to see some general trends of the systems, understand some recurring flaws, and understand the attraction and usefulness of alternative medicine in today's health care system. However, alternative medicine remains controversial. Whether it can be supported scientifically or not, alternative medicine may be useful to encourage both physical and mental well-being via a placebo effect. For this reason, alternative medicine must be considered by physicians as a complement to modern medicine.

The International Association for the Study of Pain defines pain as “an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage” (1979). Pain is actually the culprit behind warranting a visit to a physician office for many people (Besson, 1999). Notoriously unpleasant, pain could also pose a threat as both a psychological and economic burden (Phillips, 2006). Sometimes pain does happen without any damage of tissue or any likely diseased state. The reasons for such pain are poorly understood and the term used to describe such type of pain is “psychogenic pain”. Also, the loss of productivity and daily activity due to pain is also significant. Pain engulfs a trillion dollars of GDP for lost work time and disability payments (Melnikova, 2010). Untreated pain not only impacts a person suffering from pain but also impacts their whole family. A person’s quality of life is negatively impacted by pain and it diminishes their ability to concentrate, work, exercise, socialize, perform daily routines, and sleep. All of these negative impacts ultimately lead to much more severe behavioral effects such as depression, aggression, mood alterations, isolation, and loss of self-esteem, which pose a great threat to human society.

According to the American Pain Society, pain is defined as, “an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage (2016)” It is the number one reason for seeking healthcare. Pain not only makes someone uncomfortable but all it interferes with their quality of life. (Wilkinson and Treas, 2016). It is estimated that 80% of the residents in the nursing homes leave with chronic pain. Often, inadequate assessment and treatment accounts for the high prevalence pain in this population (Lindsay and Rosemery,2012).