Did
you know that the National Institutes
of Health (aka your tax dollars at work) has a website devoted to
Complementary
Therapies? The
National Center for
Complementary and Alternative Medicine (http://nccam.nih.gov )
is a U.S. Government
agency that supports the
integration of research based Complementary and Alternative Medicine
(CAM) with
our Western model of practice.
You
will only find information about
therapies that have been researched or are being researched. If you are looking for a
therapy not
listed on the homepage, click on Health Topics A-Z (http://nccam.nih.gov/health/atoz.htm) for
a more
detailed index. There
is a section
about CAM and children (http://nccam.nih.gov/health/children/)
as well
as tips (http://nccam.nih.gov/health/decisions/talkingaboutcam.htm)
on how to talk to
your doctor
about CAM, and how to select a CAM practitioner (http://nccam.nih.gov/health/decisions/practitioner.htm). Some of the topics have
fact sheets for
you to print and take to your health care provider. And, of course, no
modern website
is complete without the option to subscribe
(http://nccam.nih.gov/news/newsletter/2009_may/)
to an
e-newsletter or RSS feeds. It
will
take time for Complementary and Alternative Medicine to be fully
integrated
into our medical culture. NCCAM
recognizes the value of CAM and that acceptance through research is a
key piece
in bringing two cultures together for our benefit.
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