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Complementary treatments - which ones are best?
Are treatments such as Reiki and Acupuncture which heal the mind, body and spirit, equally effective or do all treatments have their strengths and limitations? For example, would acupuncture be more effective than Reiki for strengthening a weak kidney?
Sometimes it’s easy to choose the treatment that is going to be right for you. If, for example, you are scared of needles, acupuncture may not be top of your list (although even then, there are practitioners who work without needles) but for most of us, finding the therapy that is right for us is a very personal thing.
Graeme Millar, editor of The International Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine points out that all alternative and complementary therapies are designed to treat the whole person and look beyond the symptoms to find the underlying cause of a complaint. In your case, then, the practitioner would be looking at your medical history, lifestyle, diet and nutritional choices to try and determine why you have a weak kidney and not just how to treat it.
In your case, both Reiki healing and traditional Chinese acupuncture could help, but then so too could herbal medicine, or homeopathy. The important thing is that you feel comfortable with not only the therapy you choose but the practitioner too. A good one will tell you if their therapy is not suited to your condition or if they have little experience of your complaint and refer you to someone who does but as with conventional medicine, there are good, bad and indifferent practitioners.
Word-of-mouth is probably the best recommendation but you also need to do some homework too. Pay a visit to your local library and read up on the therapies that do interest you and then visit several practitioners before deciding who you would feel happy to have treating you.
*The International Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine is a monthly publication and is available on subscription; it costs £33 for 12 issues. Call 0171-385 0012 for details.