Discussion Week 3 course 4410

Sample Answer

Alternative medicine involves the use of medical practices that act as a replacement for conventional medicine. On the other hand, WHO defines traditional medicine as the sum of the knowledge, skills, and practices based on the theories, beliefs, and experiences indigenous to different cultures used in the maintenance of health and the prevention, diagnosis, improvement, or treatment of physical and mental illness (WHO, 2023).

Both practices of medicine have their differences, including their approaches. For instance, alternative medicine uses the holistic approach to look into an individual’s physical, emotional, and spiritual health regardless of the patient’s symptoms.

In contrast, traditional medicine only treats the symptoms presented. In addition, alternative medicine is more individualized as the facilitators spend more time with the patient, reevaluating all aspects of their health compared to traditional medicine (Lee et al., 2022).

Alternative medicine focuses on understanding the root cause of the present symptoms while aiming to put up measures to prevent the recurrence of the symptoms. The preventative measures used as patient’s prescription lifestyle modifications such as exercise and nutrition changes.

On the other hand, traditional medicine specialists only focus on treating the present symptoms with herbs without identifying the cause of the disease.
From a professional perspective, alternative medicine can be instrumental, especially when integrated with modern medicine.

For example, its holistic nature helps improve individuals’ psychological and spiritual health, which may reduce mental health burden. In addition, practitioners need to know the root cause of the disease and can help put up measures that will help reduce or prevent the resurgence of the disease in the future(Phutrakool et al., 2022).

The alternative medicine preventative prescription through lifestyle modification can help lower the burden of lifestyle diseases such as obesity, diabetes, and hypertension. Alternative medicine practices, such as mind-body interventions, can help promote emotional and spiritual care through meditation (Zeighami et al., 2020).

In addition, massage, chiropractic, and osteopathic medicine can be utilized in physiotherapy and in relieving muscle and joint pain. Lastly, alternative medicine can help alleviate a patient’s symptoms, such as pain, nausea, and insomnia, through the use of acupuncture and herbal medicines.

References

• Lee, E. L., Richards, N., Harrison, J., & Barnes, J. (2022). Prevalence of use of traditional, complementary and alternative medicine by the general population a systematic review of national studies published from 2010 to 2019. Drug Safety, 45(7), 713-735. https //doi.org/10.1007/s40264-022-01189-w
  
• Phutrakool, P., & Pongpirul, K. (2022). Acceptance and use of complementary and alternative medicine among medical specialists a 15-year systematic review and data synthesis. Systematic Reviews, 11, 1-14. https //systematicreviewsjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13643-021-01882-4
  
• World Health Organization (WHO), (2023). https //www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/traditional-medicine
  Zeighami, M., & Soltani-Nejad, S. (2020). Knowledge, attitude, and practice of complementary and alternative medicine a survey of Iranian nurses. Journal of Research in Nursing, 25(4), 380-388. https //doi.org/10.1177/1744987120925852