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3.Integrative medicine successfully treats chronic pain (maybe)

As controversial as integrative medicine is, a new study indicates
that complementary treatments like yoga and massages can treat chronic
pain and other conditions successfully, according to a report from
philanthropist community Bravewell Collaborative released yesterday.
Integrative medicine, by definition, is patient-centered care,
addressing physician, emotional, mental, social, spiritual and
environmental influences on a person's health, according to the
report. It can include food and nutrition, supplements, yoga,
meditation, traditional Chinese medicine and acupuncture, massage and
pharmaceuticals, and any combination of those things.
The survey included 29 integrative medicine centers, including
Cleveland Clinic, Mayo Clinic and Stanford University, and asked about
integrative medicine results for adult, geriatric, adolescent,
obstetric-gynecologic, pediatric and end-of-life care. The survey
respondents reported that they had the most clinical success in
chronic pain (75 percent), gastrointestinal disorders (59 percent),
depression and anxiety (55 percent), cancer (52 percent) and stress
(52 percent).
The survey results, however, were not necessarily objectively
measured, Medscape noted. The report's measurements--which weren't
uniform across the institutions--came from physician observation
notes, patient comments and satisfaction surveys, assessment forms,
biomarkers and electronic medical record captures.
Most of the centers said they didn't have information on specific
patient outcomes because they didn't have the resources to capture or
analyze that data.
Bravewell also surveyed nine of its own centers.

Integrative medicine, let alone the report, can be a hard pill to
swallow for some.
"Integrative medicine" is really a marketing term, Steven L. Salzberg,
professor of medicine and biostatistics in the McKusick-Nathans
Institute of Genetic Medicine at Baltimore's Johns Hopkins University
School of Medicine, told Medscape. He added that it might not actually
help patients: "It's little more than quackery, a lot of it."
Or as David Gorski, associate professor of surgery at Wayne State
University School of Medicine and the Breast Multidisciplinary Team
Leader at the Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit, Mich., called it,
integrative medicine is essentially an "elaborate placebo."

But skeptics haven't stopped the approach from taking off. Alternative
medicine has been soaring over the last decade. Forty-two percent of
hospitals reported they provide complementary and alternative medical
services, according to an October 2011 report by American Hospital
Assocication's Health Forum and the Samueli Institute. That number has
tripled since 2000.
One of the reasons may be that integrative medicine incorporates
patients' culture. For example, one in four Hispanics use
complementary medicine, including high use of botanicals in urban
areas, for a variety of ailments, such as a cold or upset stomach,
according to Consumer Reports. For chronic conditions, though,
Consumer Reports recommends patients seek board-certified physicians
trained in integrative-medicine.

Proponents of the approach say integrative medicine can offer
combinations of treatments for complex diseases and "if it works, why
not?"
"One of the most striking, though perhaps predictable, conclusions of
this study is that integrative medicine is, in fact, integrative. It
integrates conventional care with non-conventional or non-Western
therapies; ancient healing wisdom with modern science; and the whole
person--mind, body, and spirit in the context of community," the
report states.