Natural Solutions for Modern Ailments

There is no denying that complementary medicines and alternative therapies are both popular and cause for, sometimes, emotive debate within our community. The pharmaceutically backed system of allopathic medicine in Australia is regularly championed by outspoken critics of any alternative form of healthcare. The clamour in the media is that things like herbal medicine, acupuncture, homeopathics and such do not work, and that scientific evidence backs these accusations up. Flying in the face of this is La Trobe University’s decision to accept funding from a large vitamin supplement manufacturer to create a new centre to research complementary medicines. Will we soon be seeing more natural solutions for modern ailments being scientifically assessed in a more objective framework?

Traditional Healing was Based on Herbal Remedies

For those who do not know their history, herbal medicine, homeopathics and acupuncture predated what we now know as western or allopathic medicine. Human beings all over the world were treated with herbal remedies and natural therapies for illness and injury. These treatments were, often, effective for many conditions and ailments. In the mid-1880s, amid the discovery of many new pharmaceutical drugs like vaccines and later, antibiotics, allopathic medicine began to take a stranglehold on healthcare in the west. Practitioners of the traditional forms of healthcare were actively derided and this has continued until this day.

Western Medicine Unable to Treat Chronic Illness

In the 21C, we are seeing across the planet that western medicine, which is primarily pharmaceutical drug based, as been unable to effectively treat many disorders of the mind and, what some would describe, as of the spirit. Chronic illnesses involving skin, respiratory, joint inflammation, depression and allergic reactions have become a black hole in the armoury of western medicine. The fact is, that people have turned in droves to alternative therapies and complementary medicines because their first port of call, their GP, has not been able to help them with an effective treatment. Combine this with the systematic paucity of time proffered in consultation and diagnosis by allopathic healthcare practitioners and you get neglect, directed by economic imperative.

Two Thirds of Australians Use Alternative Therapies & Medicines

More than two thirds of Australians utilise natural therapies and alternative healthcare products every year. A few loud spokespersons beating their drum about unproven efficacy ignores the salient point that complementary medicines and alternative therapies are filling a need within the healthcare market. Where pharmaceuticals fail to effectively treat chronic conditions, more traditional herbal-based medicines are coming to the fore. Naturopaths and homeopaths are providing a level of consultation and diagnostics not offered by the GP and his or her 5 minutes in and out service. Natural solutions for modern ailments are, also, improving in their design and manufacture. The La Trobe University initiative will advance that process, even, more.