The relationship between alternative medicine and overall health is

The relationship between alternative therapy and overall health is a synergistic relationship that is complementary rather than substituted - it can neither replace the core treatment status of conventional medical care, but can also fill the gaps in overall health in terms of physical and mental adjustment, chronic disease rehabilitation, and improvement of life quality that are not covered by conventional medical care. The two together constitute a complete health support system covering the three dimensions of physiology, psychology, and social adaptation.

Last week, I accompanied Aunt Zhang, whom I met before, to the cancer hospital for a review. She is 52 years old. Three years after breast cancer surgery, all blood tests and imaging indicators were normal. However, at this time last year, she could not sleep well all night, sweated frequently during the day, and was afraid of the wind when going out. Later, on the advice of a rehabilitation doctor, she did warm acupuncture twice a week to regulate endocrine, followed the APP for 20 minutes of mindful breathing every day, and occasionally put two drops of lavender essential oil on the pillow when she suffered from severe insomnia. After struggling for half a year, she can now sleep for 6 hours stably. Last week, she went to climb Fragrant Mountain with her old sisters.

Many people tend to go to extremes when they hear the words "alternative therapy". They either think it is an IQ tax or that it can cure all diseases. In fact, the mainstream medical community has long given it a position: it belongs to the category of "complementary and alternative medicine (CAM)", and the core is "complementary", not "replacement". The FDA clearly requires that all products related to alternative therapies cannot be labeled with the effect of "treating diseases." The National Health Commission has also issued multiple documents prohibiting the use of alternative therapies such as acupuncture and meditation as first-line treatment options for acute, severe and infectious diseases. A while ago, I saw in the news that a young man had bacterial pneumonia and refused to take antibiotics. He drank fruit and vegetable juices at home and relied on "natural therapies" to slap him on the back, which almost caused respiratory failure. This is a typical example of crossing the border.

But don’t kill it all at once. Many tertiary hospitals are now testing the waters of integrated medicine. I went to a rehabilitation medicine forum last month, and a pain doctor from Peking Union Medical College also shared a case: when patients with chronic back pain were given routine analgesic treatment, combined with Baduanjin training three times a week, the patient’s pain score dropped 30% faster than those who only used medication, and the recurrence rate was also nearly half lower. There is also the Rehabilitation Department of Shanghai Cancer Hospital, which has long opened mindfulness group classes to provide psychological adjustment for postoperative cancer patients. In 2023, "The Lancet Psychiatry" also published a study. For mild to moderate anxiety disorders, the improvement effect of 8 weeks of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy is not significantly different from the effectiveness of the first-line anti-anxiety drug sertraline, and there are no side effects such as drowsiness and weight gain.

To be honest, I used to sneer at these methods. Until four years ago, when I was in the acute stage of lumbar protrusion, the pain was so painful that I couldn't even get out of bed. I went to the orthopedic department for traction and took painkillers. After two weeks, I was able to get out of bed, but I was still sore after standing for a long time. The doctor said that it was not enough for surgery, so I should go home. Just practice the core. I practiced with Yan Fei for three months but it didn't help at all. Then I tried massage and acupuncture with the mentality of giving it a try, and combined it with Baduanjin for 10 minutes a day. The pain was gone in less than a month. It's been almost four years now, and I haven't done it again while sitting for long periods of time. Only then did I understand that the "overall health" we are talking about does not mean health if there is no arrow on the test sheet. If you have sore shoulders and back all day long and can't sleep, even if the indicators are all normal, the quality of life will not be much better. These are precisely the things that conventional medical care does not take care of.

Of course, controversy has never ended. Many scholars of traditional Western medicine believe that the effects of alternative therapies are mostly placebo effects. After all, it is difficult to conduct double-blind comparisons in many studies - you can't give sham acupuncture to the control group, right? Even if the needle is not inserted into the right acupoint, the skin itself will be stimulated by being pricked. Practitioners of alternative therapies often over-exaggerate their efficacy. In the circle of friends, you can often see promotions such as "moxibustion cures diabetes" and "essential oil massage can eliminate nodules." Last year, a fan sent me a private message and said that he was diagnosed with thyroid nodule 4a and refused to do a puncture.

In the final analysis, we ordinary people don’t need to worry about who is right and who is wrong. We just need to make clear boundaries: when you get an emergency or serious illness, go to a regular hospital to see a Western doctor as soon as possible. Take medicine when you should have surgery. Don’t bet your life on folk remedies.； If you have completed conventional treatments and your indicators are normal but you still feel uncomfortable, or you just want to adjust your sleep, reduce stress, or relieve chronic pain, there is nothing wrong with trying alternative therapies from regular institutions. After all, the pursuit of overall health is to "live longer and live comfortably." As long as the method that can help you achieve this goal is safe and compliant, there is no need to distinguish between high and low, right?