Alternative Therapies
Hydrotherapy
Hydrotherapy is the use of water by its chemical properties but rather by their physical properties. Hydrotherapy in the patient benefits from the application of different water pressure and water baths that can be cold or hot.
HidroterapiaLa immersion in hot water baths increases body temperature and promote the dilation of blood vessels which increases the risk of blood in the skin and muscles.
Cold water baths lead to constriction of blood vessels reducing the risk peripheral blood, both in the skin and muscles, promoting and increasing circulation to internal organs.
There are several ways to use the spa water:
- The bathrooms where hot water may be used in which case the body can remain immersed for half an hour with cold water duration is limited to five minutes, and if we combine hot and cold water can be applied respectively for 5 and 10 minutes. The baths are recommended for arthritis problems, skin diseases and circulatory disorders, however not recommend this type of therapeutic baths in the heart or in cases of hypertension.
- The washes consist of applying water with a cloth body areas of interest.
- The puffs are mostly used in treatments for respiratory diseases in the hot water is often added some kind of extract or herbs that help clear the respiratory system. The fumes are also used in beauty treatments.
- The jets are usually applied in many spas and consist of water jets at different pressure and temperature are applied to the patient.
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Benefits of Ultraviolet Light Therapy
1. Ultraviolet light is an effective treatment for psoriasis. Reported that the condition of 80% of patients with psoriasis improves when exposed to UV rays
2. Ultraviolet light is also an effective treatment for many diseases, including asthma.
3. UV light activates vitamin D synthesis, a prerequisite for the absorption of calcium and other minerals in the diet.
4. UV light increases the level of sex hormones. According to the findings, it has been shown that estrogen has a strong absorption peak in a portion of the UVB range (~ 290nm). This indicates that estrogen us more efficient when a woman is exposed to UV wavelengths.
5. UV light increases the efficiency of the heart. Of every 20 people exposed to ultraviolet light in the study, 18 people tested increased cardiac output (average 39%). In other words, their hearts became stronger and pumped more blood.
6. UV light lowers blood pressure. This was observed in a study carried out in some people who were exposed to ultraviolet light than once. A dramatic decrease in high blood pressure was observed, an effect that lasted 5 to 6 days.
7. UV light reduces cholesterol. This fact, an experiment in which patients with hypertension and related circulatory problems were exposed to ultraviolet light. 97% of these patients had almost a 13% decrease in serum cholesterol levels 2 hours after first exposure. Addition, 86% of patients within the group maintained the same level of cholesterol in serum 24 hours later.
Other types of fat involved in heart disease are also reduced by exposure to UV radiation, an event which may reflect the fact that the body needs ultraviolet light to help break cholesterol.
8. UV light helps weight loss. Thought that this is caused by the fact that UV stimulates the thyroid gland, which increases metabolism and thus burning calories.
Agrimony is an effective astringent
Agrimony is an evergreen plant that comes from the northern temperate areas. The stems are up to 1 md high and straight and hairy. The leaves grow on the bottom of the stems are soft and lighter color on the bottom.
It blooms in late spring and throughout the summer, flowers are spikes. Harvesting is done in summer. How and what is applied will be described below. It is used for diarrhea and fluid retention, leaves or whole plant is taken in infusion or tincture. It also serves as mentioned above to reduce fluid retention and cleanse the urinary tract. Agrimony turn, taken in infusion, moderate inflammatory processes, being highly appreciated in case of disease of the mouth and pharynx.
Agrimony is recommended in the treatment of sore throat, hoarseness and oral diseases in general, is to do gargle with an infusion of agrimony; plant that has traditionally been used by singers and speakers to tone of voice. If you add a little honey to the infusion, the virtues of these gargles will be enhanced.
The rose hip a recognized antidiarrheal
The rose hip is a creeping evergreen plant native to mountainous areas of Europe, Asia and North Africa. You can reach three feet in height with curved roots and branches covered with spines, leaves have jagged edges. The flowers, pink, grow isolated. The fruits or rose hips are red and contain within them the seeds. The fruit is collected in autumn.
It uses the root cooked fruit to treat diarrhea, due to its tannin content. The fruits eaten in syrups, jams, or wine served to strengthen, due to its high vitamin content, as recommended in febrile states, convalescent, or anemia.
We suggest that the hip wine for those who submit snuff smoking and cold usually present, this is a very useful home remedy for combating these diseases. We recommend rose hip drink wine, prepared with 200 grams of rose hips, 100 grams of sugar and 750 cm of white wine. For the preparation must be bone-fruit, add sugar and wine and allow to marinate for a week, then filter and take a glass half-hour before lunch and dinner
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Therapies Based On Energy
Biological therapies in CAM use substances found in nature, such as herbs, foods and vitamins. Some examples include the use of dietary supplements, the use of herbal products and other therapies using so-called “natural”, although not yet proven from scientific point of view (eg, the use of shark cartilage cancer treatment).
Some uses of dietary supplements have been incorporated into conventional medicine. For example, scientists have discovered that folic acid prevents certain birth defects and a regimen of vitamins and zinc can slow the progression of eye disease called macular degeneration associated with age.
[Edit] Methods of handling and body-based
The methods of manipulation (or manipulation manipulative therapy) and body-based complementary and alternative medicine emphasize the manipulation or movement of one or more body parts. Some examples include chiropractic, osteopathy and massage, but noted that many of the therapies that are included in these 3 terms are also common practice and fields of competence of a health profession, science, formal and conventional as well as physical therapy medicine manual or osteopathic (DO by physicians), so there clearly differentiate whether these therapies applied a physiotherapist / doctor or a layman, massage, chiropractor, compositeur or healer: in the first case we are talking about conventional medicine or scientific and the other alternative.
[Edit] Therapies based on energy
Main article: Energy Therapy
Therapies based on energy are one of the five types of complementary and alternative medicine according to NCCAM. As one of the areas of complementary medicine that causes more controversy, there are groups who feel that their effectiveness is due to the placebo effect. NCCAM divides biofield therapies when power is intervening own body and therapies bioelectromagnetic when using external equipment or an implement capable of producing energy, such as Tens or generating electrical impulses, magnetic or electromagnetic fields, among others. This second group of therapies is the most accepted by many conventional medical specialties, to be more supported by technological developments that require preliminary investigation. There are also certain definitions and classifications that are beyond the generic definition of NCCAM and try to generate new forms of classification, even though they could fall into any of the above categories. This is the case of therapies that work with cosmic energy, or orgone energy quanta.
Types of Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Differences between complementary medicine, alternative, traditional and integrative
* Complementary medicine is used together with conventional medicine. An example of complementary therapy is using aromatherapy to help relieve patient’s discomfort after surgery.
* Alternative medicine is used instead of conventional medicine. An example of an alternative therapy is the use of a special diet to treat cancer instead of surgery, radiation or chemotherapy recommended by a conventional doctor.
* Traditional medicine encompasses a variety of therapies and practices that differ greatly from one country to another and from one region to another WHA56.31 (2003). According to the NCCAM, is medicine as practiced by holders of MD (Medical doctor) or D.O. (Doctor of osteopathy) and other health professionals such as physiotherapists, psychologists, occupational therapists, paramedics, podiatrists, speech therapists and nurses. Another term for conventional medicine, mainly or strictly medical drug is allopathic or allopathic medicine, too, Western medicine, formal, orthodox, ordinary and biomedicine.
* Integrative medicine, as defined by NCCAM, combines formal medical therapies and CAM therapies and CAM for which there are high-quality scientific data on its safety and effectiveness.
[Edit] Major types of complementary and alternative medicine, traditional and integrative
The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) of the United States therapies classifies CAM into five categories or domains:
1. Alternative medical systems
2. Focus on the mind and body
3. Biological Therapies
4. Methods of handling and body-based
5. Therapies based on energy
[Edit] Alternative medical systems
Alternative medical systems are built upon complete systems of theory and practice. Often, these systems have evolved apart from and above the conventional medical approach. Examples of alternative medical systems Westerners are homeopathy and naturopathy. Examples of other systems are non-western and traditional Chinese medicine Aiur Veda.
[Edit] Focus on the mind and body
The medicine of the mind and the body uses a variety of techniques designed to enhance the capacity of the mind to affect bodily function and symptoms. Some techniques that were considered CAM past have become mainstream (for example, patient support groups and cognitive-behavioral therapy). Other techniques for the mind and body are still considered CAM, including meditation, prayer, mental healing and therapies that use creative outlets like art, music or dance.
Chinese herbs help prevent diabetes
Several traditional Chinese herbs would control the blood sugar when the risk of diabetes is high, suggests a new study.
The review of 16 clinical trials of 15 herbal formulas the herbs showed reduced levels of blood sugar in people with “prediabetes,” which are those with impaired glucose control can become type 2 diabetes. When the researchers gathered data from eight of these studies found that adding an herbal remedy to lifestyle changes doubled the likelihood of normalizing the blood sugar levels.
Moreover, people who had used the remedies were two thirds less likely to develop diabetes during the study, which lasted about 9 months.
The findings are published in the Cochrane Library, Cochrane Collaboration, an international organization that evaluates medical research. For authors, the results are “quite promising.” But they cautioned that the studies had some methodological biases, preventing firm conclusions.
“There are many herbal remedies on the shelves, but few were subjected to a rigorous test,” he told Reuters Health via e-mail the author of the study, Suzanne J. Grant, Center for Complementary Medicine Research at the University of Western Sydney in Australia.
Many of the trials analyzed, explained, were “high risk of bias” that might overestimate the effects of therapies. So, he added, is more rigorous trials necessary before recommending the use of herbal medicines to prevent diabetes.
Posted in Alternative Therapies, Diabetes | Tags: Chinese herbs, Diabetes, herbal medicine, prevent diabetes, risk of diabetes, traditional Chinese herbs | No Comments »
Tips For Treating Eczema
Eczema or eczema is a skin condition that appears locally in specific areas due to a hypersensitivity of the skin. Symptoms of eczema are many and varied but usually is associated eczema is an inflammation of the area, bleeding, erythema (redness of the area caused by excessive blood flow due to vasodilation), severe itching, peeling skin on area, blisters and areas of dry, leathery skin (with the appearance of tanned skin).
The causes of eczema are not clear, but it is a process often associated with allergies, asthma and a hereditary tendency, but that itself is not contagious. Read the rest of this entry »
Talk About Sunburn
Today we will talk about sunburn, but be careful not to confuse the sunburn with another type of burn on the skin that can make us with fire, heat, etc.
although the former may come to be so serious how are you. Sunburn usually call to those produced by a too prolonged exposure to unprotected sunlight or other ultraviolet radiation source. Read the rest of this entry »
The Most Common Symptoms Of Hemorrhoids
Hemorrhoids or piles are a series of veins in the rectum and anus that become swollen and become very annoying.
Almost everyone over a period of his life suffering from hemorrhoids, but the main causes of hemorrhoids, not to mention that there is some inherited component are:
* Long periods of constipation or diarrhea.
* Great efforts when defecating.
* Hemorrhoids in pregnancy. The effort at the time of childbirth hemorrhoids produces many pregnant women.
* Stay long periods of sitting or standing.
* A poor diet low in fiber promotes constipation.
* Obesity.
The most common symptoms of hemorrhoids are:
* Bleeding haemorrhoids. Little bleeding when defecating, including feces or on paper wiping. In this bleeding external hemorrhoids usually accompanied by pain or itching and no internal hemorrhoids.
* Pain or discomfort when sitting.
* When the veins inside the anus become inflamed and are beyond the anus (prolapse occurs). This vein bulging is very annoying when you are sitting.
The treatment of hemorrhoids is essential for improvement and especially to reduce symptoms of hemorrhoids so bothersome, so we must:
* When going to the bathroom try not to keep quiet and go at the time that we need. We should try to defecate without great efforts and to promote bleeding and prolapsed internal hemorrhoids. Cleanse the anus with paper or soft tissues and, if possible accompanied by warm water. In case of prolapse try (once the area clean) finger to accompany the hemorrhoid inside the anus.
* When you feel very itchy or itching in the area is good warm water baths for about 10 minutes. It also relieves itching to ice, but we will not use this remedy because the cold weather does not help remove the blood clot that forms the hemorrhoid and if relief but does not facilitate the improvement of the hemorrhoid.
* The use of creams for hemorrhoids usually relieve the pain or itching, but not good either prolonged use.
* As mentioned in many of our items, chamomile is a natural anti-inflammatory and analgesic, so a bag of chamomile in warm water on the external hemorrhoid ease enough.
* Another home remedy is the paste of spinach (finely chopped spinach mixed with oil). The properties of spinach decongest and soothe the hemorrhoid discomfort.
* We must balance a diet rich in fiber, but be careful, say balance, since too much fiber can lead us to go to the bathroom too often and very hard stool, all counter with hemorrhoids.
* Avoid very spicy foods or very spicy, is a “hell” for the hemorrhoid.
* In extreme cases will be necessary to operate the hemorrhoids surgically. Today there are several methods of disposal, such as clotted through laser sclerosed by injection or surgical removal of a lifetime.
If hemorrhoids or piles make you suffer a lot and these tips for home treatment of hemorrhoids and natural and do not relieve hemorrhoids, you should visit your doctor.