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September, 1998 - VOL. 4, NO. 5 | |
September, 1998 |
| Acupuncture treatment for phantom limb pain |
| Tony V Lu, MD |
| A 34-year-old white female, previously healthy and athletic, was involved in a boating accident while
swimming in a lake. The patient was struck by the boat, causing multiple tibular and fibular fractures on her right leg and crushing her right heel. These injuries necessitated a below-the-knee amputation of her injured
right leg. The patient did not receive an epidural injection prior to the surgery. One week after surgery, however, she expressed interest in alternative modalities for managing the severe phantom leg pain she was feeling. She described the pain as follows: “[M]y right big toe and heel [are] trapped inside the stump.” She also described the pain as “contraction pain” that was coming “in waves” and felt like it was “squeezing in all directions.”A34-year-old white female, previously healthy and athletic, was involved in a boating accident while swimming in a lake. The patient was struck by the boat, causing multiple tibular and fibular fractures on her right leg and crushing her right heel. These injuries necessitated a below-the-knee amputation of her injured right leg. The patient did not receive an epidural injection prior to the surgery. One week after surgery, however, she expressed interest in alternative modalities for managing the severe phantom leg pain she was feeling. She described the pain as follows: “[M]y right big toe and heel [are] trapped inside the stump.” She also described the pain as “contraction pain” that was coming “in waves” and felt like it was “squeezing in all directions.” |
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September, 1998 - VOL. 4, NO. 5 | |
September, 1998 |
| A comparative study of chiropractic and medical education |
| Alan Adams, DC; Peter Coggan, MD, MSEd; Ian D Coulter, PhD; Meredith Gonyea, PhD; Michael Wilkes, MD, PhD |
| Background • Chiropractic is the largest of the alternative/complementary health professions in North America. However, little attention has been given in the health sciences literature to the formal curriculum of chiropractic education or to its similarities to and differences from the curriculum of allopathic medical education. This lack of information precludes extensive referrals and interaction between the 2 professions, even when historical and political barriers can be overcome.
Method • This is a descriptive, comparative study of the curriculum content of North American chiropractic and medical colleges, supplemented by in-depth data obtained through site visits with 6 institutions (3 chiropractic and 3 medical).
Discussion • Considerable commonality exists between chiropractic and medical programs. Regarding the basic sciences, these programs are more similar than dissimilar, both in the types of subjects offered and in the time allotted to each subject. The programs also share some common areas in the clinical sciences. Chiropractic and allopathic medicine differ the greatest in clinical practice, which in medical school far exceeds that in chiropractic school. The therapies that chiropractic and medical students learn are distinct from one another, and the settings in which students receive clinical training are different and isolated from one another. With these similarities and differences established, future studies should examine the quality of the 2 educational programs in detail. (Altern Ther Health Med. 1998;4(5):64-75) |
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September, 1998 - VOL. 4, NO. 5 | |
September, 1998 |
| Homeopathic and psychiatric perspectives on grief |
| Jonathan R.T. Davidson, MD; Susan Gaylord, PhD |
| Objective • This review describes the homeopathic analysis of grief and common remedies corresponding to this reaction. Homeopathic descriptions of grief are compared with contemporary psychiatric criteria.
Data Sources • Each homeopathic rubric (ie, symptom) is identified on the basis of a computerized repertory search, grouped according to body systems, and compared with a current set of operational criteria derived from the psychiatric literature. The major homeopathic remedies for grief are identified.
Study Selection • One hundred four rubrics for grief were found, incorporating mental and physical symptoms as well as physical disease.
Data Synthesis • Homeopathic phenomenology of grief was closely matched with its current psychiatric definition. A close correspondence was seen between psychiatry and homeopathy, even though each has a differing heritage and temporal origin. The correspondence of a later descriptive system (ie, psychiatry) to an earlier, independently derived system (ie, homeopathy) confers validation to both systems’ description of the grief response.
Conclusion • The similarities and differences between homeopathic and psychiatric descriptions of grief have been noted. Similar forms of grief response are recognized by both systems, though homeopathy provides a more extensive list of physical sequelae following bereavement. Controlled trials of homeopathy in grief tates are recommended. (Altern Ther Health Med. 1998;4(5):30-35) |
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September, 1998 - VOL. 4, NO. 5 | |
September, 1998 |
| Deliberately caused bodily damage |
| Larry Dossey, MD |
| When my wife Barbara and I moved to northern New Mexico almost 10 years ago, I discovered that the chiles used in the local restaurants were so hot they were actually painful, and I ate many a meal with a tearful grimace. Then, after a few months of masochistic culinary experiences, things began to change. I noticed that my aversion to hot chiles was diminishing and that I was actually beginning to enjoy the piquant tastes. My pain was gradually being transformed into pleasure. Barbara and I boldly began to seek out restaurants with the hottest salsas and seasonings, arrogantly disdaining establishments that served milder concoctions. We became confirmed “chile heads,” as chile aficionados are called in these parts. To this day, when on extended travels, we talk fondly of the fiery food we are missing back home and the chile withdrawal symptoms we imagine we are experiencing. On returning we waste no time seeking out our favorite restaurant for a “chile fix.” |
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September, 1998 - VOL. 4, NO. 5 | |
September, 1998 |
| Clinical outcome research in complementary and alternative medicine: an overview of experimental design and analysis |
| Robert J Gatchel, PhD; Ann Matt Maddrey, PhD |
| This article serves as a primer for those beginning clinical research in complementary and alternative medicine. The authors provide a basic overview of important experimental design and statistical issues, of which clinical researchers in the area of complementary and alternative medicine must be aware when attempting to demonstrate the effectiveness of particular treatment modalities. As the article suggests, science is an inferential process, and experimental investigations can vary greatly in methodological integrity. Key concepts in clinical outcome research such as internal validity, statistical conclusion validity, and the appropriate measurement and operational definitions of outcomes are discussed. New scientific approaches that are evolving because of paradigm shifts in science (eg, chaos theory) are also reviewed. Suggestions are provided to further develop an understanding of clinical outcome research methodology. (Altern Ther Health Med. 1998;4(5):36-42) |
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September, 1998 - VOL. 4, NO. 5 | |
September, 1998 |
| Stephen G. Wright, MBE, FRCN creating sacred space |
| Bonnie Horrigan |
| Stephen G. Wright has been in the nursing profession in Great Britain since 1971, when he began work as a nursing auxiliary at Fairfield General Hospital in Lancashire. He qualified as a registered nurse in 1974 and earned his master’s degree in nursing at Manchester University in 1981. He was awarded a Fellowship of the Royal College of Nursing in 1991. Wright has written and published widely on nursing issues. His most recent books include Nursing Development Units (with Jane Slavage) and Therapeutic Touch (with Jean Sayre-Adams). He serves on numerous editorial boards and is the editor of the journal European Nurse. His second book written with Sayre-Adams, Sacred Space, is currently in press. With Jean Sayre-Adams, Wright created the Sacred Space Foundation, a charity dedicated to the care of nurses and the teaching of the healing arts. He is also the director of TENDA-Care, a charity that helps nurses develop nursing services. He directs the operations of The European Nursing Development Agency (TENDA), a for-profit company that educates nurses. Wright is an active member of the Royal College of Nursing, a trustee of the Holistic Nurses Association, and a visiting professor of nursing and holistic studies at the University College of St Martin in Lancaster. He was awarded an MBE (a distinguished award from the Queen) in 1992 for his services to nursing.
Alternative Therapies interviewed Stephen Wright in San Diego, Calif, while he was visiting the United States on a speaking tour. |
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September, 1998 - VOL. 4, NO. 5 | |
September, 1998 |
| Dreams as nonlocal connections |
| Peg Elliott Mayo, LCSW |
| There is scientific as well as mantic interest in the phenomena of nonlocal events, particularly in our emerging understanding of healing. The word “healing,” as used here, means more than the cessation of distress or the amelioration of symptoms. Healing may occur even as we physically die. In the psychological sense, healing involves reaching a state of profound acceptance that is free of remorse or sorrow. It is characterized by often wordless happiness and bright anticipation.
Although the terrain is semantically treacherous, love is integral to psychological and probably physical healing, whether it is received, given, or reciprocal. We influence one another for good or ill by our thoughts, focus, and intention. The amazing thing seems to be that love traverses time and distance and is often experienced as a nonlocal event. What once was the province of snake oil salesmen, ornate psychotics, and fantasy writers now intrigues some of the best and most scientifically trained minds of our time. |
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September, 1998 - VOL. 4, NO. 5 | |
September, 1998 |
| The Grail's Poetry Ritual Theatre: ancient healing for breast cancer survivors |
| Nancy G Moore |
| The Grail, an international women’s movement, has created a unique forum for providing a healing and transformative experience for survivors of breast cancer. The Poetry Ritual Theatre, complete with medicine women, warriors, the Earth Mother, and audience participation, allows survivors and their loved ones to release their fears of death or recurrence of the disease, and also starts them on a spiritual path of activism and service.
Written and directed by poet Sharon Thomson, Ancient Healing: A Ritual for Our Time From the Clan of the Not-So-Many Breasted Women, was first performed in April at Grailville, the group’s headquarters in southwestern Ohio. Thomson, herself a breast cancer survivor, says she conceived the ritual drama after confronting her own fear of dying and then discovering sources of healing. |
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September, 1998 - VOL. 4, NO. 5 | |
September, 1998 |
| Heart-focused attention and heart-brain synchronization: energetic and physiological mechanisms |
| Linda G. S. Russek, PhD; Gary E. R. Schwartz, PhD; Linda Z.Y.X. Song, MD |
| Context • Many relaxation, meditation, and imagery techniques that implicitly or explicitly involve focused attention on the body, including qigong, massage, and noncontact therapeutic touch, purportedly employ energetic and physiological mechanisms.
Objective • To show that, from a perspective of dynamical energy systems, relaxed self-attention enhances connectivity between the brain and body. This enhanced connectivity may be achieved by at least 2 mechanisms: (1) physiological mechanisms employing peripheral negative feedback loops, and (2) bioelectromagnetic mechanisms involving direct energetic resonance between the peripheral organ and the brain.
Design • 19 channels of electroencephalogram, 1 electrocardiogram, and 2 channels of electro-oculogram were recorded from 22 subjects who focused their attention on their heartbeats or eye movements, with and without kinesthetic (touch) biofeedback to increase somatic awareness.
Results • Analyses of the electroencephalogram synchronized with the electrocardiogram revealed significant effects for heart-focused attention, primarily with touch biofeedback, following the contraction of the ventricles (possibly reflecting increased baroreceptor and somatosensory feedback); and significant effects for heart-focused attention, with and without touch biofeedback, preceding the contraction of the ventricles (possibly reflecting direct electromagnetic interactions between the heart and the brain).
Conclusions • These findings suggest that energetic and physiological mechanisms may be involved in techniques in which the goal is to promote mind-body integration and health. (Altern Ther Health Med. 1998;4(5):44-62) |
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