acuforwell - August 14th, 2006

Glucosamine is not a drug. It’s a mere dietary supplement. But increasingly, doctors are approving and even recommending it for arthritis. It is now part of the huge complementary and alternative medicine, or CAM. The use of vitamins, herbs and other supplements has been steadily increasing, as the number of products in the market indicate. Shelf after shelf is loaded with items once found only in health food stores.

Accelerating research into CAM practices at conventional medical institutions has led to the inclusion of other supplements into conventional medical practice. Folic acid is commonly recommended during pregnancy to prevent certain birth defects, and vitamins and zinc are used to slow macular degeneration, an age-related eye disease. This explosion is also in the fields of acupuncture and other alternate medical fields. There are now 70 percent more naturopathic physicians in the state than there were six years ago. 

State laws that changed 10 years ago, requiring health insurers to include in their provider network complementary and alternative practitioners who are licensed by the state. The law finally survived court challenges in 1999, state-regulated health insurance plans had to cover visits to acupuncturists, naturopathic physicians, chiropractors and massage therapists. This resulted in dramatic utilization of these benefits since the first year it was implemented.

The productions levels have tripled since 1999 and still the demand is not fully met. In 1998, the federal government added a new agency to the National Institutes of Health to investigate complementary and alternative healing practices, subject them to scientific research and put out authoritative information about the growing list of practices and substances.

Naturophatic doctors build relationships with their patients, which proves to be a good long-term strategy. This valuing of the patient builds trust and results in an ever increasing number of patients. An integrated alternative health plan that works with the mainstream practice has proved to be an important industry additive. It will only grow in the future to an even bigger size.