Welcome to Thriving-Baby-Boomers – A Whole person approach to wellness

“Empowering others to take a balanced approach to their own health and wellness by focusing on all aspects of the whole person.’

“Focusing on the whole person to maximize health and wellness for life.”

TBB logo

Alternative Health Care for Baby-Boomers

Types of Health Care

Allopathic (Traditional Health Care)

Allopathic healthcare is often focused on individual symptoms. On the whole, allopathic healthcare focuses on dysfunction rather than health and wellness.

Often the forms of treatment are technologically based and/or invasive such as surgery or drugs. Traditional health care is necessary for emergency types of treatment such as broken bones, and life-threatening diseases, but not a good model for physical well-being.

Complementary Alternative Medicine

Complementary Alternative Medicine (CAM) is another name for Alternative Health Care.

According to a new study by Harvard Medical School, approximately 50% of Baby-Boomers use some form of Complimentary Alternative Medicine (CAM). Up to 70% of Post Baby-Boomers, those born between 1965 and 1979 use CAM, and only 30% of those older than Baby-Boomers, born before 1945, were likely to use CAM. However, the researchers found a trend toward increased use by all age groups has been on the rise since the 1950s.

According to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), although many people use the words ‘complementary’ and ‘alternative’ interchangeably, there is a difference. They outline the differences like this:

“Complementary” generally refers to using a non-mainstream approach together with conventional medicine.

“Alternative” refers to using a non-mainstream approach in place of conventional medicine.

So, truly Complementary Alternative Medicine is a bit of an oxymoron, it is either complementary, or it is alternative.

Integrative Medicine also Called Complementary Alternative Medicine

Integrative medicine is a combination of traditional health care and Complementary Alternative Medicine. For instance, a hospital or cancer clinic will use traditional cancer treatment of chemo and radiation, but also offer meditation and acupuncture to relieve some of the serious side effects of the traditional treatment.

Holistic Health Care

According to webmd.com “Holistic medicine is a form of healing that considers the whole person – body, mind, spirit, and emotions – in the quest for optimal health and wellness.”

There are many old cultural forms of medicine that take a holistic approach and engage the whole body in the diagnosis and treatment of the condition.

Homeopathy

According to webmd.com

Homeopathy is based on the idea that “like cures like.” That is, if a substance causes a symptom in a healthy person, giving the person a very small amount of the same substance may cure the illness. In theory, a homeopathic dose enhances the body’s normal healing and self-regulatory processes.

A homeopathic health practitioner (homeopath) uses pills or liquid mixtures (solutions) containing only a little of an active ingredient (usually a plant or mineral) for the treatment of disease. These are known as highly diluted…substances. There is some evidence to show that homeopathic medicines may have helpful effects.

Historically, people have used homeopathy to maintain health and treat a wide range of long-term illnesses… Homeopathic treatment is not considered appropriate for illnesses, such as cancer, heart disease, major infections, or emergencies.

Naturopathic

Naturopathy is a drugless system of health care, using a wide variety of therapies, including hydrotherapy, heat, massage, and herbal medicine, whose purpose is to treat the whole person to stimulate and support the person’s own innate healing capacity.

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)

The typical TCM therapies include acupuncture, herbal medicine, and qigong exercises. With acupuncture, treatment is accomplished by stimulating certain areas of the external body.

Other Complimentary Alternative Medicine Modalities

I am not familiar with, nor have I experienced all Complementary/Alternative therapies. There are many more that I would like to try out one of these days. In the meantime,  I will write a bit about ones that I am somewhat familiar with – see the purple links below for my essays.

• chiropractics
• energy healing
• Movement therapies  (Feldenkrais method, Osteopathy, and more)

Structural Integration – Rolfing

Whatever one’s age and/or health condition there is a myriad of options for prevention, restoration and maintenance of health care. From traditional allopathic to Complementary Alternative Medicine, or Holistic Health Care one is sure to find the right treatment for their health concerns.

STANDARD DISCLOSURE: In order to support my blogging activities, I may receive monetary compensation or other types of remuneration for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial, and/or link to any products or services from this blog. Please note, that I only ever endorse products that are in alignment with my ideals and I believe would be of value to my readers.

• Back to Physical Well-Being
• Home

Copyright © 2012 – 2022 thriving-baby-boomers.com. All rights reserved.

This website is for information purposes only and is not intended to be or to serve as, a substitute for legal, financial, or medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek professional advice.